366 Barack H. Obama: The Unauthorized Biographyeffect do whatever he wanted about Iraq. Samantha Power’s remarks came true in early July,
releasing a shock wave that might doom the Obama candidacy in its entirety. There was also
NAFTA: Obama said he was critical, but Austan Goolsbee told Canadian officials that Barky was a
free trader, and Goolsbee had been right, as Obama’s Fortune interview showed.
OBAMA’S SHIFT TOWARDS ENDLESS WAR IN IRAQ
On July 3, Barack Obama revealed once and for all that he is an imposter and a con artist. From
the very beginning, the foundation of Obama’s campaign and his claim to possess superior strategic
and moral judgment had been his claim to oppose Bush’s Iraq war. In a North Dakota campaign
event, Obama declared that he would consult with the generals and “refine his position” on the Iraq
war. The Washington Post headlined: “Obama May Consider Slowing Iraq Withdrawal.” But the
real message was clear: Obama was moving rapidly away from his earlier 11-month or 16-month
timetables for withdrawal and towards full support for endless war, endless bloodbath, and endless
bankruptcy in Iraq. Samantha Power had confessed Obama’s doubletalk on Iraq months ago. The
handwriting was now on the wall: Obama would soon go to Iraq, meet with General Petraeus, and
then announce his Baghdad road conversion to a policy of open-ended military occupation,
oblivious to the immense human costs. Soon there would be no difference at all between Obama
and McCain on the Iraq war, and the Democratic Party would have missed yet another historic
opportunity to help the American people end Bush’s and Cheney’s failed criminal adventure.
McCain gloated that Obama’s flip-flop proved he had no principles, only opportunism and
expediency, and that his much-touted soaring words meant precisely nothing. Democrats now had
their last chance to reflect: did they really want to give their nomination to a little-known newcomer
who had posed as a peace advocate, and had now unmasked as a warmonger and candidate for
Bush’s third term?
OBAMA’S BETRAYAL OF DEMOCRATS ON FISA, NAFTA,
CAMPAIGN FINANCE, THE DEATH PENALTY AND MUCH MORE
From the instant that he felt that the Democratic nomination was in his hands, Obama moved
relentlessly to the right in a breathtaking, stunning exhibition of cynicism and duplicity. Everything
he was supposed to stand for was thrown overboard, and Obama’s contempt for his own voters was
now center stage. Obama had promised to stop Bush’s assault on the Constitution and civil liberties,
and end illegal wiretapping. Now, Obama voted for the rotten compromise on the FISA bill,
including immunity for the telecoms – something he had vowed to filibuster. Obama had promised
clean government and less corruption, but he broke his promise by opting out of public financing
for his fall campaign, junking the cause of political reform he had claimed to champion. In Ohio and
Pennsylvania, Obama posed as a critic of free trade sellouts like NAFTA, CAFTA, and WTO, but
he now told Fortune magazine that he was a great friend of free trade. Obama now openly
supported the death penalty, more of Bush’s faith-based boondoggles, and the “merit pay” assault
on teachers. He wanted to cut the corporate income tax, and opposed attempts to curb hand gun
violence. His current team of economic advisers guaranteed that he would eventually come out for
the partial privatization of Social Security camouflaged as “entitlement reform.” In short, Obama
intended to betray not just his own basic commitments, but the historical foundations of the
Democratic Party going back to Franklin D. Roosevelt. All that remained to complete this panorama
of betrayal was the choice of a Vice President: it was clear that Obama would reject Senator
Clinton, the greatest primary vote getter in the history of the Democratic Party, and the candidate