Obama embodies grand failure of great hopes

Barack Obama’s accession to power reminds the plot of a Hollywood blockbuster about America’s future, where the US president is is often portrayed as a black intellectual, who is greatly concerned about saving America from an imminent catastrophe.

Photo: Obama embodies grand failure of great hopes

We have all of that now: the black intellectual and the catastrophe. Let us just try to understand what it all means even if we are not average Americans.

Barack Obama appeared as the voice of many changes and the embodiment of changes during the elections. Obama has virtually brought a slightly renewed team of Bill Clinton to power. Clinton’s political legacy in Obama’s team is personified by Hillary Clinton, the new Secretary of State. General James Jones was appointed as the National Security Adviser. Retired Admiral Dennis Blair became the National Intelligence Director. Joe Biden, one of the architects of the US foreign political strategy, was picked as the vice president.

All vectors of the current US politics were built under Clinton’s rule. The NATO expansion, the bombing of Yugoslavia, the separation of Kosovo and even the doctrine to topple Saddam Hussein (Biden and Clinton took direct participation in its development) were all built during Clinton’s presidency. The Clinton’s administration used to have a much greater involvement in Russia’s internal affairs using the phenomenal loyalty of the Russian leadership of those times. It is worthy of note that Obama emerged as a politician against the background of anti-war sentiments.

Barack Obama said that the US must end the war in Iraq responsibly. In other words, he means that the United States must pull out from Iraq, but only when a responsible end is reached. No one would mind that, Bush would have nothing against either. The Guantanamo prison must be closed, but not now, because there is no place where the dangerous prisoners could be accommodated.

Obama is not a deceiver. However, his position of the incumbent leader differs from his pre-election rant. Obama said that the US administration should talk to its enemies, not just its friends, including Iran and Syria, to stabilize Iraq. He said that he’d use whatever military force is necessary to protect US citizens, but that the “military option is not the only option in the toolbox.”

The USA might use that tone in its conversation with Russia as far as the NATO expansion and the missile defense issues are concerned. Obama will have an opportunity to ruin the relations with Russia.

Top economic advisor Larry Summers, who held a high-ranking job in the Clinton administration, will deal with the development of the economic strategy of the new administration. Ben Bernanke will continue administering the Federal Reserve System. Timothy Geithner was appointed the Treasury Secretary, whereas Bill Richardson, who served as the Secretary of Energy under Clinton, will head the Commerce Department.

The current crisis was basically formed during Clinton’s stay in the office in spite of the fact that Bill Clinton is considered the President of the American Dream. Social and pension funds were emptied during Clinton’s presidency, and a colossal bubble was made on the stock market. Poor Bush could only delay the inevitable end.

Larry Summers, the chief economic ideologist of today, does not know any new recipe except for pumping financial institutes with budget money. Obama himself can only say that the crisis has been caused with an irresponsible distribution of money and cheap loans. He has not been taught to deal with anything else.

“Only government can break the vicious cycles that are crippling out economy where a lack of spending leads to lost jobs which leads to even less spending; where an inability to lend and borrow stops growth and leads to even less credit,” Obama said.

“I think he is going to have a strong message for the bankers,” David Axelrod, a top Obama advisor said. “We want to see credit flowing again. We don’t want them to sit on any money that they get from taxpayers,” he added.

The taxpayers’ money was spent long ago along with the money of the future generations of taxpayers. This is what they call a system crisis.

Obama said the American Dream was about people’s faith in the lives that they were building for themselves and for their children and grandchildren, to make their lives even better.

Peter Peterson, the former US Commerce Secretary believes that those empty promises only mean that children and grandchildren will have to pay today’s bills. Billionaire Peterson said that the current generation of Americans had guzzled away the lives of the next two generations. This is the end of the American dream.

Obama embodies the peak of this dream. A son of a Kenyan shepherd has become the president of the USA. This is the peak, and the downfall is inevitable.

Obama, who has not done anything bad to anyone yet, is destined to become the embodiment of the failure of great hopes and colossal illusions.

Mikhail Leontiev
First Channel