A different take on Obama

[avrpatsfan]

Here's a great video of Real Time with Bill Maher where they discuss the drug war.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC9P-YOHkHI

[Havoc Wreaker]

I somewhat agree with your first paragraph, perhaps poor choice of words on my part.

Uhuru didn't support a candidate. They are about empowering the community from within, and building the community from within, as they have no faith in the government to do so. They however were AGAINST obama for the reason given in op, which was hopefully rephrased more clearly two posts above.

This is pretty close. One thing to clarify, all presidents before obama did the same thing, so this is not something new he brings to the table. Where the difference lies between him and previous presidents is, before it was much more open. It was much more obvious in these communities that particular entities in the gov't are against them, prey on them, and at the end of the day the gov't doesn't give a **** about them. But by bringing in a man like obama, it starts to change that perception, and people are under the false impression that somehow things have changed.

Much like the diff between british vs american imperialism. It is essentially the same thing, but notice how people don't perceive it as so, due to this rule through proxy idea.

Sorry for the confusion in my op, I know we all have diff backgrounds and understandings of how things are, I guess I kinda broke it down in the manner it was broken down to and understood by me.

*And I also realize that this man has only been here for 4 years, its hard to say anything concretely, but just an idea to ponder...

I get your point now. I don't agree with it, but I get it.

[nastynice]

I get your point now. I don't agree with it, but I get it.

aight, cool. Care to elaborate on that any? Doesn't have to be completely thought out, just any ideas or fragments of ideas?


I want to kinda throw something out there, just to help kinda clarify what I'm talking about when I speak of this "domestic war". I can't say I've necessarily delved into these examples that I understand the ins n outs of them, but just a couple things I noticed...

One thing is just taking a look at a map of schools in chicago which have been closed. You will see the overwhelming majority of these things take place in the southside and the westside, the two areas where avg income is much lower.

http://www.wbez.org/content/mapping-...chool-closures
http://www.classroom20.com/profiles/...logPost:198064

At least to me, common sense would tell me that these areas are where MORE money NEEDS to be pumped in, rather than taken out. But this doesn't seem to be the reality of what's happening.

Another thing, chicago has an el rail system, the red line goes north to south, from deep north to deep south. There are some reconstruction projects about to be undertaken. The entire red line south of cermak is going to be closed for a few months, while the north side red line will stay open for the most part, as the reconstruction will take place station by station. The reason I was told to be the reasoning for closing the entire southern part is because it will be much cheaper to rebuild it like that. This is going to drastically affect people's commute in the south side.

I have not found too much info on this outside of what I was told by some people, but if this indeed the case, this is just another example of what I'm talking about, this veiled prejudice taking place in our country.

**found a couple web pages, putting it on here not just for others but for my own future reference as well...
http://www.chicagonow.com/cta-tattle...newal-project/
http://www.transitchicago.com/redsouth/

[nastynice]

The Obama administration is just the Bush administration except slightly more to the left. Corporations (private prisons, who benefit greatly from the drug war and big pharma) come first, people second.

good to see I'm not the only one who thinks this

[The Schmooze]

I think every president in the modern era is put in place in hopes to pacify and appease the American public, despite the reality. I think with Obama, they just found a guy who was young, an amazing orator, and a person of color. This combination helped elevate him to his current position.

I'm just not sure how much of it was specifically guaged towards appealing to the biggest victims of the drug war, prison-industrial complex, etc. IF people were revolting and opposing these institutions at the time of the '08 election then I'd agree, but overall the American public doesn't truly understand what's going on with these entities.

[nastynice]

I think every president in the modern era is put in place in hopes to pacify and appease the American public, despite the reality. I think with Obama, they just found a guy who was young, an amazing orator, and a person of color. This combination helped elevate him to his current position.

I'm just not sure how much of it was specifically guaged towards appealing to the biggest victims of the drug war, prison-industrial complex, etc. IF people were revolting and opposing these institutions at the time of the '08 election then I'd agree, but overall the American public doesn't truly understand what's going on with these entities.

1st paragraph - yea, I definitely agree. I really feel like he was presented with a "I'm one of you" type of aura. Especially after all the lack of trust in the gov't from the bush years, this was exactly what "the public" wanted/needed.

2nd paragraph - good point

[The Schmooze]

1st paragraph - yea, I definitely agree. I really feel like he was presented with a "I'm one of you" type of aura. Especially after all the lack of trust in the gov't from the bush years, this was exactly what "the public" wanted/needed.2nd paragraph - good point

I agree. It may be somewhat of a weird reference but Immortal Technique summed it up best for me. He said that Obama was not the "great unifier", but rather the "great pacifier" because people were so upset and angry b/c of the debt, wars, and especially bailouts at the time that many voted for Obama b/c they felt everything would be OK, and he'd honestly enact some real changes.

The worst thing for me is despite not voting for him in 2012, deep down in the back of my head I still want to believe that Obama is one of us(for the middle class)...but thusfar he's proven otherwise.

[Gandalf]

I don't like him he did not do a good job his first four years in office and somehow managed to get re-elected i don't like they way he has handled both wars and I don't like how he is dealing with Iran being to easy on them. I also do not Obamacare.

[Angry Norwegian]

I don't like him he did not do a good job his first four years in office and somehow managed to get re-elected i don't like they way he has handled both wars and I don't like how he is dealing with Iran being to easy on them. I also do not Obamacare.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whytAReStUQ