[P2P-F] Fwd: 2 Obama Betrayals in one Day: 1. Abandons Egyptian Democracy Demonstrators' Demand to Oust Mubarak 2. Embraces US Chamber of Co
Michel Bauwens
michelsub2004 at gmail.com
Tue Feb 8 15:52:11 CET 2011
from the tikkun folks
2. Administration bows to the Corporate Hierarchy Running America--with
Little Response
Obama Urges US Corporations To "Invest In America" To mostly positive
media reviews, President Obama yesterday addressed the Chamber of Commerce
in Washington. Though a number of stories describe the reception afforded
the President as rather chilly, the coverage tends to present him as focused
on the economic recovery, and reaching out to his political opponents in
order to spark job creation.
ABC World News said the President "delivered an urgent message to the
companies to get in the game, start spending money and hiring workers --
throwing down a gauntlet but also trying to build a bridge." The CBS Evening
News said "Obama continued his campaign to improve relations with business,"
urging "corporate America to invest the nearly $2 trillion it has saved up
and start hiring again." The Los Angeles Times recounts "there was little
hearty applause, and after the president shook a few hands and walked back
to the White House, Chamber members were guarded in their reviews of his
message."
The New York Times reports that "the chamber, too, is eager to tone
down the rhetoric, according to senior officials there. At the height of the
high-profile fight with the White House, several big-name companies left its
board, citing concern about the chamber's opposition to the administration's
efforts."
The Washington Post's Dana Milbank writes that "Obama at times
paused after what should have been applause lines, but the room was so quiet
that the air could be heard coming out of the vents, as when he vowed to
take 'domestic discretionary spending down to the lowest share of our
economy since Eisenhower was president.' No applause."
Bloomberg News reports that in his remarks, "Obama said he is doing
his part to improve the business climate after a free- trade agreement with
South Korea, a deal to extend Bush-era tax cuts, and a State of the Union
address that proposed more government support for infrastructure and
'innovation.'" Politico says a "decoding of" Obama's speech "also offers
the first whiff of the desperation inside the White House about the slowness
of the economic recovery, the high unemployment figures, and the need to get
the business community fully engaged in turning things around."
The AP reports that "some liberals bristled at Obama's outreach."
Christy Setzer, "spokeswoman for US Chamber Watch, a pro-labor group," said,
"While...Obama calls on businesses to invest in America, the only thing the
US Chamber's investing in is their own bottom line -- lining the pockets of
corporate CEOs while shipping the jobs of hard-working Americans overseas."
News Analysis: Obama Wins Media Over With Centrist Moves Politico
reports on Obama's reaction to the November election, noting that the
"three-month metamorphosis says something about Obama's survival skills,"
but it "says even more about the mainstream media: Obama is playing the
press like a fiddle." Obama is "doing it by exploiting some of the most
long-standing traits among reporters who cover politics and government -
their favoritism for politicians perceived as ideologically centrist and
willing to profess devotion to Washington's oft-honored, rarely practiced
civic religion of bipartisanship."
*NSP Analysis*: Instead of a New Deal Program to help Middle Income People,
the Poor, those losing their homes and the 18% of Americans unemployed or
severely underemployed, or at least trying to help Americans explain why the
corporate elite has experienced a major economic recovery but pocketed the
money rather than create jobs for the unemployed or agree to plans for
government to help, OIbama chose to beg America's corporate elite to do what
Democrats used to know was the task of government inside a capitalist
society: provide help to allleviate the suffering of those most wounded by
the "free marketplace." So what we get is a government pleading with the
rich to be more generous, and the elites of wealth respond with indifference
and private satisfaction that the forces that once might have challenged
them are instead now simply wimpering in despair. And the rest of us? Too
traumatized by the thought of a Republican victory in 2012 to seriously
challenge the Obama Administration on any front. Not so, the NSP--please
read and then help usn seek city council endorsements and endorsements from
your other elected officials (particularly Congressional reps who will soon
be approaching you for donations for their next campaigns) for our
ESRA--Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution--the only way the power situation in the US could change back
in favor of real democracy in the U.S. Please read it at
www.spiritualprogressives.org/ESRA<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=5hdBldJ%2FeG5j24eZgzCab6lODiF0kQdN>
.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Network of Spiritual Progressives <info at spiritualprogressives.org>
Date: Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 9:39 PM
Subject: 2 Obama Betrayals in one Day: 1. Abandons Egyptian Democracy
Demonstrators' Demand to Oust Mubarak 2. Embraces US Chamber of Co
To: Michelsub2004 at gmail.com
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=jDRqhJU2OdJ9uEf30SglMKlODiF0kQdN>
*1. Administration Backs Suleiman, Comes Out Against Immediate Mubarak Exit
*
With the political crisis unresolved in Egypt, the volume of US media
coverage continues to dwindle – but remains considerable. For the first time
since the protests began, not all three networks led with the story, which
continues to receive coverage on the front pages of major dailies.
Reports and analyses agree that the Obama Administration, after what
the AP describes as "several days of mixed messages about whether it wants
to see [Hosni] Mubarak stay or go," yesterday "conceded Monday that it will
not endorse the demands of Egyptian protesters" for the "embattled"
president Mubarak "to step down immediately, saying a precipitous exit could
et back the country's democratic transition." The Administration "coalesced
around a position that cautiously welcomes nascent reform efforts begun by
newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman that may or may not result in
Mubarak's resignation before September."
The CBS Evening News reported that President Obama "said...Egypt is
making progress on a transition to democracy. But the Administration is
easing the pressure on...Mubarak, saying forcing him to leave immediately
could threaten that transition." The New York Times reports on its front
page that after "two weeks of recalibrated messages and efforts to keep up
with a rapidly evolving situation, the Obama administration is still trying
to balance support for some of the basic aspirations for change in Egypt
with its concern that the pro-democracy movement could be 'hijacked,' as
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton put it, if change were to come too
quickly."
Under the headline "US Eases Off Call For Swift Egypt Reform," the
Los Angeles Times says that the Administration "has reconciled itself to
gradual political reform in Egypt, an approach that reflects its goal of
maintaining stability in the Middle East but is at odds with demands of the
protest movement in Cairo that...Mubarak relinquish power immediately." Fox
News' Special Report similarly reported, "It appears...Obama's insistence
that the transition in Egypt begin immediately does not, in fact,
require...Mubarak to step down."
*NSP Analysis*: De Facto, Obama has opened the door for Mubarak's regime,
led by Egypt's CIA-head and now VP Suleiman to a. repress the demonstrators
if they don't give up soon, and b. install a phony process of "consultation"
with the protesters that will in fact lead to an election in which the
military dictatorship which installed Mubarak will remain in power with some
changes to the names of the people at the top but little change in the
economic suffering and political oppression of the Egyptian people.
2. Administration bows to the Corporate Hierarchy Running America--with
Little Response
Obama Urges US Corporations To "Invest In America" To mostly positive
media reviews, President Obama yesterday addressed the Chamber of Commerce
in Washington. Though a number of stories describe the reception afforded
the President as rather chilly, the coverage tends to present him as focused
on the economic recovery, and reaching out to his political opponents in
order to spark job creation.
ABC World News said the President "delivered an urgent message to the
companies to get in the game, start spending money and hiring workers --
throwing down a gauntlet but also trying to build a bridge." The CBS Evening
News said "Obama continued his campaign to improve relations with business,"
urging "corporate America to invest the nearly $2 trillion it has saved up
and start hiring again." The Los Angeles Times recounts "there was little
hearty applause, and after the president shook a few hands and walked back
to the White House, Chamber members were guarded in their reviews of his
message."
The New York Times reports that "the chamber, too, is eager to tone
down the rhetoric, according to senior officials there. At the height of the
high-profile fight with the White House, several big-name companies left its
board, citing concern about the chamber's opposition to the administration's
efforts."
The Washington Post's Dana Milbank writes that "Obama at times
paused after what should have been applause lines, but the room was so quiet
that the air could be heard coming out of the vents, as when he vowed to
take 'domestic discretionary spending down to the lowest share of our
economy since Eisenhower was president.' No applause."
Bloomberg News reports that in his remarks, "Obama said he is doing
his part to improve the business climate after a free- trade agreement with
South Korea, a deal to extend Bush-era tax cuts, and a State of the Union
address that proposed more government support for infrastructure and
'innovation.'" Politico says a "decoding of" Obama's speech "also offers
the first whiff of the desperation inside the White House about the slowness
of the economic recovery, the high unemployment figures, and the need to get
the business community fully engaged in turning things around."
The AP reports that "some liberals bristled at Obama's outreach."
Christy Setzer, "spokeswoman for US Chamber Watch, a pro-labor group," said,
"While...Obama calls on businesses to invest in America, the only thing the
US Chamber's investing in is their own bottom line -- lining the pockets of
corporate CEOs while shipping the jobs of hard-working Americans overseas."
News Analysis: Obama Wins Media Over With Centrist Moves Politico
reports on Obama's reaction to the November election, noting that the
"three-month metamorphosis says something about Obama's survival skills,"
but it "says even more about the mainstream media: Obama is playing the
press like a fiddle." Obama is "doing it by exploiting some of the most
long-standing traits among reporters who cover politics and government -
their favoritism for politicians perceived as ideologically centrist and
willing to profess devotion to Washington's oft-honored, rarely practiced
civic religion of bipartisanship."
*NSP Analysis*: Instead of a New Deal Program to help Middle Income People,
the Poor, those losing their homes and the 18% of Americans unemployed or
severely underemployed, or at least trying to help Americans explain why the
corporate elite has experienced a major economic recovery but pocketed the
money rather than create jobs for the unemployed or agree to plans for
government to help, OIbama chose to beg America's corporate elite to do what
Democrats used to know was the task of government inside a capitalist
society: provide help to allleviate the suffering of those most wounded by
the "free marketplace." So what we get is a government pleading with the
rich to be more generous, and the elites of wealth respond with indifference
and private satisfaction that the forces that once might have challenged
them are instead now simply wimpering in despair. And the rest of us? Too
traumatized by the thought of a Republican victory in 2012 to seriously
challenge the Obama Administration on any front. Not so, the NSP--please
read and then help usn seek city council endorsements and endorsements from
your other elected officials (particularly Congressional reps who will soon
be approaching you for donations for their next campaigns) for our
ESRA--Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution--the only way the power situation in the US could change back
in favor of real democracy in the U.S. Please read it at
www.spiritualprogressives.org/ESRA<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=5hdBldJ%2FeG5j24eZgzCab6lODiF0kQdN>
.
* Never say, "There was nothing I could have done." There is something you
could do: join the Network of Spiritual Progressives as a dues paying member
at www.spiritualprogressives.org,<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=6sftkWtSwGU%2By8qMUp4IWkj8rmJQ1fAA>or
at least make a substantial donation, help us build a campaign for
the
ESRA (you don't need anything more than a willingness to talk to your
neighbors to get them to sign our petition and then to go to elected
officials to insist that they embrace the ESRA--and if you are house-bound
then you can write letters to our list of key media people at
www.spiritualprogressives.org/article.php/media<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Il5USqqaTLTFEU6CBoHMaF%2BVL4X%2BZOF1>
**. You could also come to Tikkun's 25th anniversary celebration March 11-14
in Berkeley (details at
**www.tikkun.org/celebrate*<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=exPUcUZ82mBHSNsb5XP3nKlODiF0kQdN>
* ) to show public support for those who refuse to despair and who keep on
putting out the message that social justice, peace, generosity and love== The
Caring Society--Caring for Each Other, Caring for the Earth==is still the
best path to save our society and save the planet.*
* Embrace the prophetic politics of Tikkun and the NSP, and please do it
now! With membership in NSP comes a free subscription to Tikkun's new
quarterly, and access on our new on-line magazine to special sections that
will only be available to subscribers. Please stand with us together, or
each of us will fall into cynicism and passivity by ourselves!!!!!** --Rabbi
Michael Lerner (just turned 68 yesterday and still bringing forth the
prophetic tradition's message that the future of all life on this planet
urgently depends on building The Caring Society). Best birthday gift you can
give? Join the Network of Spiritual Progressives, come to the Tikkun 25th
anniversary, or donate to Tikkun (and it's even tax-deductible).
RabbiLerner at Tikkun.org (if it's your first time writing me, you'll get a
"spam arrest" message--just follow the instructions one time to prove that
it is you and not a spam machine that is writing, and you'll never have to
do it a second time.
*
------------------------------
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