HE RAINED ON OBAMA’S ANNIVERSARY PARADE

Arshad M. Khan

Have you ever heard of Scott Brown … before yesterday that is?  He is the man who has rained on President Obama’s inauguration anniversary parade.  For thirty-seven years the voters of Massachusetts, the most liberal state in the nation, have dutifully elected Democratic senators; not this time.  Unable to find any prominent Republican to contest this ‘safe’ Democratic seat, warmed over many years by the generous posterior of the late Edward Kennedy, the GOP persuaded Scott Brown to be their standard bearer.  The folklore that you can’t beat a Kennedy legacy didn’t deter him or his enthusiasm.

The President has already sent him his congratulations and a message saying he is looking forward to working together for the good of the country.  Translation:  just ask for what you want … .   The people electing Obama believed the rhetoric and expected a champion of their interests.  What they got was someone who opened wide the doors of the White House, the people’s house, to corporate CEO’s ranging from health care to banking.  They proceeded to lay down their demands, all meekly accepted.  The people thought they had elected a bull; instead they got an ox.  The bankers and the health industry got what they wanted, and the people … they got the bill.

The health care issue was a litmus test.  Over seventy percent of Americans favored a single-payer health care plan, yet not one supporter of such a plan was ever invited to the people’s house.  The people also expected the wars to end, the torture to stop and Guantanamo to close.  Of these, there has been limited progress on the latter two although the order banning torture included loopholes –  why not a straight forward ban on all torture?  The chaos in Iraq continues and the Afghan war has been escalated.  The casualty lists are growing, and the latest daring attack in the center of Kabul, the most heavily guarded and cordoned piece of real estate in Afghanistan, belies General McChrystal’s assertion that security is improving.  Furthermore our goals remain as nebulous as ever.  The people wanted us to be out of Iraq and Afghanistan; instead they have gotten Bush III.

The economic effects of war in a time of recession, exacerbate the pain.  While poor folk continue to lose their homes to foreclosure, the bankers are making record profits — mostly from trading.  Back to the casino for the banks, and to the grindstone for the people.  Small wonder then, they made their voice heard the first chance they got.

The author, a retired professor, is a co-founder of the website ofthisandthat.org

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