Obama-Bad-Ass

Everyone by now has a take on Barack Obama's chest-thumping routine regarding Pakistan so I may as well throw in my two cents. The following was a post of mine that didn't see the light of day over at the SCC Blog in the "Obama Steps in it Again" thread from 2 August 07. Lately I've noticed that my posts don't appear over there when my positions flout conventional wisdom as was the case with the post below:

“Hillary's people have to be licking their chops. First, they berated Obama as a foreign policy lightweight for saying that he'd meet with enemy states like Iran or North Korea despite that fact that they have, time and again, violated UN sanctions and International Law”—SCC

Obama steps in it? Steps in what? The Barockstar is merely playing the game fellas. Hillary plays it as well. As representatives of the Business Party’s milder wing, both The Hillerator and Barockstar must demonstrate to the owners of our plutocracy (corporations and major investors) that they will keep their eye on the prize. You see guys, the Bushistas have fucked things up royally. Let’s briefly revue how they’ve run the imperial train off the rails:

--Iraq is “lost”, that is to say it cannot be profitably exploited by the USuk energy corporations after what has to be the most inept occupation in history.

--The illegal USuk invasion/occupation has managed in fact to do the precise opposite of what its planners envisioned—increased the influence and prestige of Iran in the region.

--The Bushistas have repeated the fundimental mistake of the Vietnam War in attempting to conduct a war of imperial conquest with volunteers instead of mercenaries. Though an attempt to get around this obstacle has been made with the increased use of private contractors (i.e mercenaries) there simply aren’t enough of them to overcome the Iraqi resistance.

--The US Army is nearly broken. Yep, that happens when you try to get around the fact that you just can’t find enough cannon-fodder to enlist, so you just keep rotating the same troops through over and over and over again. Futhermore, it is bankrupting the Treasury and drowning the nation in foreign debt.

--As a result of the above, the US is unable to slap Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and others who defy the Hegemon (and its corporations) back in line with a quick invasion like back in the good old days. We’re spread too thin.

The Democrats have to show that THEY are the better managers of Pax Americana thus the tough talk from Barockstar, it’s the only card they have since they share the same imperial values. Obama-Bad-Ass is speaking directly to a particular audience when he sprouts off about Pakistan—namely elites. He means to reassure the owners of our society that a Democratic victory in ’08 will not lead to a constriction of America’s aggressive foreign policy. Look at where both The Hillerator and Barockstar converge on the issues: (1) both agree to leave the possibility of a nuclear strike on Iran, a major violation of the UN Charter—just the threat—“on the table”; (2) both have no intention of removing US troops from Iraq or the region as they staunchly support the continuing construction of the largest US embassy in the world right in the heart of illegally occupied Baghdad, as well as the 14 massive permenant bases also undergoing construction in strategic locations throughout Iraq—all of which ensures US control of ACCESS to the vital and stupendously profitable energy resources of Iraq.

An attack on Pakistan is indeed madness SCC—we can’t subdue Iraq let alone the nation you’ve described—but Barockstar knows this. As he and Hillerator jockey for position as Imperial America’s Chief Manager, they use code-speak for the audience that counts which roughly translates as follows: We won’t let you down like those other fools, just give us the power and we’ll bring home the bacon.

-Coldtype