John Pilger on Barack Obama and American Empire

By on July 16, 2010 in News 10

Though this clip is almost a year old, journalist John Pilger sums up the Obama problem succinctly and accurately.   His insight on Obama speech reminds me of a word to have only recently entered the English vernacular: obamalize–the act of saying one thing when your intentions are the exact opposite.

, , ,

  • Dust

    Really? Obamalize just entered the English vernacular? Like every single president ever hasn't lied to get elected and done the same things as every other president ever rather than the things they said they'd do?

    • Hadrian999

      no real liberal or conservative( i don't mean what passes for it today) will ever see the presidency or any high office. to compete you must be corrupt, people can believe in grass roots upstarts but those need money and media coverage to get past the local scene. we saw a heavy grass roots candidate go nowhere. the only way i see to change our system is to shut it down, as long as we have the ilusion of democracy any challenge to the system can be played off as terrorists//radicals who “hate american freedom”

  • Cerebralcaustic

    >the act of saying one thing when your intentions are the exact opposite

    English already has words for this: “lying,” “duplicitous,” and “hypocrisy.”

  • justagirl

    his slogan was all about “change” = obamalize.
    my presidential vote was one of a sacrificial nature for someone who walked away from the poll with voter's remorse. otherwise, i might have voted for jack mehoff again. i was glad to assist.

  • 5by5

    For my fellow Liberals who actually thought Obama was Liberal during the election, I'd always remind them of who Obama's “mentor” was in the Senate — Joey Liebermush. Like seriously, buy a clue.

    Obama is just like Clinton – Republican-lite. Just once, I'd like to vote for a Democrat who's ACTUALLY a Democrat — preferably not just a Liberal, but someone who is a Democratic Socialist who believes in not only political democracy, but economic democracy as well.

    Which is what makes all this blithering on the Wrongwing about how “Obama's a socialist,” positively HILARIOUS. He couldn't be farther from it. He's a nice man who's considerably less of a douche than the last guy who sat in his chair, but who's still got several corporatist hooks in his backside, and isn't strong enough to tell the military-industrial complex to go fuck itself.

  • Gemmarama

    All hail The Pilge! Is this man ever wrong?

  • Haystack

    I think that Obama is a realist. By working within the system and building consensus, he can nudge things in the direction he wants them to go, albeit not as far as he’d like. He originally supported single payer healthcare, for example, but when the time came he proposed something that was more of a compromise, and that compromise got whittled down even further, but he did actually get a bill passed in the end–a major achievement, by any standard.

    The problem is that too many of his supporters thought their work was done once they put him in office, then acted surprised when he didn’t take bold, leftist stands. People need to be continuously pressuring their elected officials for change. If there had been continuous pro-health care rallies, we might have gotten a better bill, but instead we sat at home and let the Tea Party intimidate the Democrats and moderate Republicans.

    If Obama isn’t delivering what we’re looking for, we need to take responsibility for making that happen and mobilize, just as the conservatives are. It won’t happen any other way.

  • Haystack

    I think that Obama is a realist. By working within the system and building consensus, he can nudge things in the direction he wants them to go, albeit not as far as he'd like. He originally supported single payer healthcare, for example, but when the time came he proposed something that was more of a compromise, and that compromise got whittled down even further, but he did actually get a bill passed in the end–a major achievement, by any standard.

    The problem is that too many of his supporters thought their work was done once they put him in office, then acted surprised when he didn't take bold, leftist stands. People need to be continuously pressuring their elected officials for change. If there had been continuous pro-health care rallies, we might have gotten a better bill, but instead we sat at home and let the Tea Party intimidate the Democrats and moderate Republicans.

    If Obama isn't delivering what we're looking for, we need to take responsibility for making that happen and mobilize, just as the conservatives are. It won't happen any other way.

  • Forandb

    Since Nixon’s time to the present republicans have exemplified Imperialism agendas to the present with colonization strategies. Wars and recessions follows in their wake and now with Roberts Court ruling we are observing the next step they seek, into the realm of fascism. Now That Roberts has open the gates to corporations unlimited donations. Was it not Mussolini that defined fascism as the incorporation of corporations with the state? Now China, Japan, Iran, Russia are opening their wallets !! Discloser not required nor wanted by republicans. For sale, bid, bid. Now these urchins ask that you listen to their pied piper loony tuney tunes. I look at the drift of the agendas that have been produced. Believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see. That includes Pilger.

  • Forandb

    Since Nixon’s time to the present republicans have exemplified Imperialism agendas to the present with colonization strategies. Wars and recessions follows in their wake and now with Roberts Court ruling we are observing the next step they seek, into the realm of fascism. Now That Roberts has open the gates to corporations unlimited donations. Was it not Mussolini that defined fascism as the incorporation of corporations with the state? Now China, Japan, Iran, Russia are opening their wallets !! Discloser not required nor wanted by republicans. For sale, bid, bid. Now these urchins ask that you listen to their pied piper loony tuney tunes. I look at the drift of the agendas that have been produced. Believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see. That includes Pilger.