ETHOS

By Eric Augenbraun

Some artwork from my brother: 

The Obamamobile heads to Washington

(Artwork courtesy of Danny Augenbraun, click image to enlarge)

Considering that it has been nearly a month since Obama became the presumptive Democratic nominee and at least some of the unrestrained euphoria has worn off among his supporters/fans, I figured I would take this time to do a quick recap of some of the recent developments in his campaign. It is hardly a secret that since the late 70s and early 80s the Democrats have embraced a national strategy that attempts to appeal to the same constituencies that the Republicans have been able to ride to electoral success for the last 25+ years. This, in turn, gives the Republican Party an enormous amount of leverage in setting the terms of debate in the run up to elections and also produces the inevitable rightward shift taken by every Democratic candidate over that same time period. Moreover, it should come as no surprise that the Dems are every bit as beholden to the same set of corporate interests as the Republicans which largely explains their unwillingness to reject a national strategy based on constituencies constructed by the Republicans and to attempt to create and appeal to an alternative constituency–namely one organized around a program that can be of immediate benefit to the working class.

But, without further adieu, let us take a trip back to the not so distant past:

1. Not 24 hours after he had secured the nomination, Obama stood before a gathering of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in an attempt to assure Zionists of his pro-Israeli occupation credentials. Here he pledged his support for an undivided Jerusalem and stated that he would rule out negotiations with Hamas–a position not even the Israeli government has taken.

2. On Father’s Day, Obama echoed Bill Cosby’s victim blaming criticisms of Black men as a cause of the problems of the America’s Black population. 

3. While he criticized HRC for once sitting on the board of Wal Mart and positioned himself as a champion of the “little guy” during the primary battle, after securing the nomination Obama chose Jason Furman–a well known defender of Wal Mart and neo-liberal ideologue–to head his economic team.

4. Oh yeah, and then there was this: 

5. Finally, there was last week when Obama voiced his disapproval of the 5-4 Supreme Court decision that barred executions for people convicted of raping children. Right, so Mr. Hope has aligned himself with the likes of Scalia, Alito, and Thomas. That makes sense.

There is no shortage of examples to illustrate the clear right turn that Obama has taken and will continue to take as the election nears and these are but 5 of them. 

The most common defense I have heard of Obama’s rightward shift is that “he has to say the stuff he says,” that “it is the nature of electoral campaigns for Democratic candidates to move towards the center to appeal to voters.” While there is some truth to these statements, they do not reflect some universal truth about the American electoral process so much as they underscore the bankruptcy of the strategy pursued by the Democratic Party for the last 25 odd years. In other words, the only reason Obama has to say the stuff he says is because he is attempting to court the same constituencies that the Republicans have been able to mobilize with such success (and ultimately devastating effects for the vast majority of the American population).

Finally, an underlying assumption of the “he says it because he has to” argument is that Obama is actually far more progressive than his rhetoric would suggest–that he does not truly mean the things he says. But given his record dating back to his days in Illinois state politics, I have no reason to believe that Obama is not just another neo-liberal Democratic politician dedicated to securing the profits of corporations and upholding America’s economic and military global dominance.