Mr. President, How About Supporting Democracy in the U.S.?
Posted: February 12, 2011 Filed under: Anti-War, Barack Obama, Civil Liberties, Egypt, executive orders, FBI raids, Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Iran, U.S. Economy, U.S. Politics | Tags: authoritarianism, Bob Herbert, democracy, Egypt, executive power, free speech zones, Hosni Mubarak, hypocrisy, Income Inequality, Martin Luther King, Military Commissions Act, Poverty, USA Patriot Act 24 Comments
Yesterday, President Obama hypocrically praised the Egyptian pro-democracy demonstrators and argued forcefully in favor of the Egyptian government listening and responding to the demands of its people.
There are very few moments in our lives where we have the privilege to witness history taking place. This is one of those moments. This is one of those times. The people of Egypt have spoken, their voices have been heard, and Egypt will never be the same.
By stepping down, President Mubarak responded to the Egyptian people’s hunger for change. But this is not the end of Egypt’s transition. It’s a beginning. I’m sure there will be difficult days ahead, and many questions remain unanswered. But I am confident that the people of Egypt can find the answers, and do so peacefully, constructively, and in the spirit of unity that has defined these last few weeks. For Egyptians have made it clear that nothing less than genuine democracy will carry the day.
Back here in the U.S., President Obama listens only to the rich and powerful while ignoring a level of inequality higher than that in Egypt and an unemployment rate approximately the same as Egypt’s!
In the speech, Obama quoted a man who really stood for nonviolent protest and the fight for democracy:
As Martin Luther King said in celebrating the birth of a new nation in Ghana while trying to perfect his own, “There is something in the soul that cries out for freedom.” Those were the cries that came from Tahrir Square, and the entire world has taken note.
How dare you, Mr. Obama? You are a disgrace. You repeatedly imply comparisons between you and Martin Luther King, while behaving more like Mr. Mubarak.
What happens here in the U.S. when people peacefully protest the government’s policies? If it happens at Democratic or Republican party conventions, protesters are put in cages ironically called “free speech zones” that are far enough from the action to prevent the powerful from being disturbed by democracy-seeking rabble. Peace activists who identify as socialists or dare to support freedom movements in foreign countries are targeted by thuggish FBI raids and secret grand juries.
Mr. President, you and other members of your administration have repeatedly called for the Egyptian government to repeal its emergency laws. What about the emergency laws that have been in place here in the U.S. for many years?
Although most Americans would be surprised to hear it, the United States is technically experiencing more than one ongoing national emergency. In 1979, during the Iran Hostage Crisis, president Jimmy Carter declared a national emergency by executive order, which every president since has renewed. George W. Bush declared a separate state of emergency after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which Barack Obama renewed.
These emergency measures are limited rather than general in nature. The 1976 National Emergencies Act set a two-year term on emergency declarations (although it’s possible to extend a declaration indefinitely), and requires the president to specify what, exactly, the state of emergency empowers him to do. The Sept. 11-related emergency gives the president the right to call retired officers back into active duty (among other powers). The Iran emergency prevents American citizens and companies from entering into oil development contracts with the Islamic Republic.
Those states of emergency have allowed you and your mentor predecessor George W. Bush to gain authoritarian powers for the executive branch through the USA Patriot Act and other unconstitutional laws like the Military Commissions Act. The powers granted by these laws have frequently been abused by government agencies.
Free Speech Zone at Democratic Convention, 2008
The Patriot Act has been reauthorized multiple times and is currently up for renewal.
So, Mr. Obama, what is your position on the latest attempts to keep the most intrusive parts of the Patriot Act from expiring?
When the act was first signed into law, Congress put in some “sunset” provisions to quiet the concerns of civil libertarians, but they were ignored by successive extensions. Unfortunately, those concerns proved to be well founded, and a 2008 Justice Department report confirmed that the FBI regularly abused their ability to obtain personal records of Americans without a warrant.
The answer to that question is that the President wants those provisions extended for three years–two years longer than the Republicans in the House are pushing for!
The Senate is working on an extension also, and one of the leaders in support of that effort is “Democrat” Diane Feinstein (whose investment banker husband has profited handsomely from defense contracts and other government largess related to the financial crisis)
At least one mainstream journalist has called attention to the hypocrisy of your policies this morning, Mr. President–focusing on your disdain for the poor and unemployed in the U.S. In the NYT, Bob Herbert writes:
As the throngs celebrated in Cairo, I couldn’t help wondering about what is happening to democracy here in the United States. I think it’s on the ropes. We’re in serious danger of becoming a democracy in name only.
While millions of ordinary Americans are struggling with unemployment and declining standards of living, the levers of real power have been all but completely commandeered by the financial and corporate elite. It doesn’t really matter what ordinary people want. The wealthy call the tune, and the politicians dance.
So what we get in this democracy of ours are astounding and increasingly obscene tax breaks and other windfall benefits for the wealthiest, while the bought-and-paid-for politicians hack away at essential public services and the social safety net, saying we can’t afford them. One state after another is reporting that it cannot pay its bills. Public employees across the country are walking the plank by the tens of thousands. Camden, N.J., a stricken city with a serious crime problem, laid off nearly half of its police force. Medicaid, the program that provides health benefits to the poor, is under savage assault from nearly all quarters.
The poor, who are suffering from an all-out depression, are never heard from. In terms of their clout, they might as well not exist. The Obama forces reportedly want to raise a billion dollars or more for the president’s re-election bid. Politicians in search of that kind of cash won’t be talking much about the wants and needs of the poor. They’ll be genuflecting before the very rich.
It’s noteworthy that Bob Herbert is saying such things out loud these days, but what we really need is some serious consciousness-raising among the American people as a whole. We could be joining together to fight back against encroachments on our liberties and our economic stability like the people in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen. When will Americans wake up and see what is happening right here in the USA and begin to demand the restoration of our freedoms and our living standards? When will we fight back against growing government tyranny right here in the USA?
peej
Carissa
ecocatwoman
grayslady
mablue2
NW Luna
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
I’ve had this deepening depression as we see more and more consolidation of the plutocracy and the President. They’re absolutely read to turn us back economically into the days of massive and frequently occurring Financial panics with no hope of upward mobility. They’re normalizing horrible unemployment rates; especially those for black and hispanics. This is a president who drew the line in the sand on FISA and then crossed it.
Again, it makes me want to expatriate before its too late to get out from behind the Wall of Christo-fascism we’re about to set up.
Dak, what do you think people who can’t expatriate can do? Those of us who really have nothing, and no money to get the hell out of Dodge.
Wonderful post, Kat – and infuriating at the same time. I’m glad Herbert is talking out loud – more of us need to do this.
We already a democracy in name only and have been since the Supremes installed Bush in 2000.
Thanks, Delphyne. It’s actually my post. The new theme makes it hard to see the author among the tags.
Oh, BB – I am SO sorry! I missed it and saw Kat shared it on FB. I’ll look more carefully in the future!!
That’s OK. It’s not a problem.
We need to work on trying to work on that cluster of tags/categories/author, etc. up top there. (sigh)
I too am so sick of reading Obama’s themes,
Me and MLK……….Me and FDR, Me and Ronald Reagan…………
It’s not hard to see through his BS, and the reason why he can’t change is because he doesn’t have the guts.
Thanks for this article, it’s very clear, he’s a failure.
It has to be Obama and somebody else cuz Obama doesn’t have an identity on his own. (And I’m sure MLK and FDR would just love to be linked with Ronnie R, that lightening rod of all that is liberal and caring.)
Really, tho, if you think about it, Obama’s comparisons of himself to totally different historical figures makes perfect sense, since he truly believes he is all things to all people. We should just sit back and worship his awesomeness, in all its cognitive dissonance.
http://www.progressive.org/mag/shorrock0708
Prescient look at Who Makes Obama’s Foreign Policy
Oh and to the right was an excerpt of an article by Bill Moyers, “The Rule of the Rich”.
http://www.progressive.org/moyers0211.html
Obama claims FBI can get phone records with no oversight.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/02/11/108562/obama-assertion-fbi-can-get-phone.html
Afternoon all! Great post BB! He is an asshat.
Asshat.
OT – Nancy Pelosi sent me an email! I was so happy to see that the former most powerful woman in the Senate is taking her time out to talk to me about Women’s Health issues! I am sure that she is representing me well in Washington.
Asshat.
TheRock….
House Republicans have begun the most radical restrictions on women’s health in our lifetimes.
Their extreme agenda would punish women and businesses by increasing their taxes if their health insurance covers the full range of reproductive health care. It would cut off funding for women’s health care clinics that offer reproductive health services. They are also refusing to drop their attempt to redefine rape.
We cannot and must not stay silent in the face of this extreme effort to undermine women’s health and reproductive freedom in our country.
I am asking for your urgent support to help us raise $100,000 for the DCCC’s Women’s Health Rapid Response Fund so we can hold the Republicans accountable.
Please make an urgent contribution of $5 or more to the DCCC’s Women’s Health Rapid Response Fund before Midnight Tuesday. Your generous support will send a powerful show of grassroots strength against the Republicans’ extreme agenda.
In the face of this extreme agenda, we cannot stay silent.
With your urgent support, we will speak out strongly against the Republicans’ effort to deny millions of Americans access to reproductive health care.
Thank you,
Nancy Pelosi
Democratic Leader
Hillary 2012
Her behavior is inexcusable, while she supported Obama health care plans she opened the doors to this bullshit in the first, I wouldn’t give her a dime.
This post is so true, and so depressing. Honestly though, thank you BB, it is amazing.
Terrific post bb….We are a colony again…at least that’s the plan.
This is like Obama partying with his south side constituent’s slum lord as they froze.
Nothing, but nothing has changed from that time , but the scale.
If Obama wasn’t the sort to party with his constituency’s slum lord , the
trained seal press and their owners wouldn’t love him like they do.
They look at their stock portfolio and their legs get all tingly.If the GOP puts up someone for 2012 it will have to be a person with a book to sell or something. They will lie down again for the ONE
Right on, BB!
It will likely take extreme poverty and violence. I am amazed on a daily basis at how little people know about the story behind the headline, buzzword, talking point, or bumper sticker. I am amazed at how little they want to know and how little they care. I believe we are a nation of willfully ignorant lazy semi-citizens. Either that, or years of pesticide/herbicide-laden GMO food and fluoridated water have taken their toll.
Sophie: panem et circenses
As long as we have the NFL, NBA, hockey and baseball, the masses will be entertained and kept quiet.
Of course we may run short on the panem. 😉
Good point. And for those who don’t care for NFL, NBA, hockey and baseball, we have Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, and the Biggest Loser.
Sophie, you are correct but I hated to even go through the teevee shows. I hardly ever watch the networks anymore, there’s just nothing there. Those reality shows are the pits.
Brava BB!
It is surprising to see a mainstream journalist come out so plainly about the state of the country and who actually runs it.
Perhaps our politicians and the oligarchy need to be reminded of just *who* had the tumbrels, pitchforks and guillotines in the French Revolution.
The part that struck me about O’s speech on Mubarak leaving was actually more when he emphasized that the protesters made history through nonviolence–I was glad he and his speechwriters shined the light on that, but at the same time, I think he’s an odd messenger to champion it when his Administration is using predator drones and won’t get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and also he’s the guy who accepted the Nobel peace prize by making a rationale for “just war.” It’s all very insulting.
best post ever, bb
On a lighter note, this is what Fox considers newsworthy enough to issue a bulletin:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201102110051
Democracy, along with the news, is dead and buried!