by Andy Thayer
Friday, Aug. 29, 2008 at 9:11 PM
LGBTliberation@aol.com
This charge, a centerpiece of Obama's acceptance speech last night, was quite probably true.
But it was also a stunning piece of hypocrisy coming from the Democratic nominee who has himself voted for almost every single George Bush war funding bill since becoming a U.S. senator.
And Obama has outdone W on several points besides:
** Advocating bombing Iran
** Proposing to invade Pakistan
** Advocating a troop surge in Afghanistan
** Advocating a larger standing army
The only remotely credible thing his supporters can say to bolster Obama's anti-war street cred is an October 2002 speech he made at Chicago's Federal Plaza. But don't look too closely at that speech and its tortured history, or your illusions in the Democrat's "peace candidate" will surely suffer.
The speech itself, made at a rally sponsored by an organization whose leaders SUPPORTED the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, was quite a tepid affair. Consistent with his message last evening, it advocated redeploying combat troops from the proposed Iraq invasion to another shooting war, Afghanistan -- hardly an anti-war message.
More importantly, it was made when Obama was a mere state senator, when he could advocate mining cheese on the moon for all it mattered. Once he became a U.S. senator, his voting record became almost totally hawkish. In the months following the October 2002 speech, as the war drums for the Iraq invasion grew louder, the alleged anti-war poltician went silent. In an Orwellian twist, his tepid anti-war speech was wiped off his website.
As the summer of 2004 rolled around, the "anti-war" senator was still mute. In the run up to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, national reporters contacted me and other Chicago area anti-war activists, desperately pleading for a transcript, even a snippet of tape from the speech. But as long as the war was the least bit popular, the "anti-war" senator kept his head down.
Not exactly a profile in political courage.
Last night's speech had a long list of gifts for people concerned about deteriorating prospects for working class people in this country. But sorry, starry-eyed Obama followers, Christmas won't come on November 4th this year.
As the old anti-fraud adage goes, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
Those hoping that a President Obama will keep his numerous promises, or live up to his anti-war media image, would do well to remember his heart-felt promise -- and back-stabbing -- on the FISA bill.
The man is a Chicago Democrat, with solid backing from every hackish politician our city can muster, right up to our crooked mayor and all his hangers-on. They wouldn't have backed him, solidly and early on, if he wasn't one of them and not one of us.
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Andy Thayer is an activist with the Chicago Coalition Against War and Racism and is co-founder of Chicago's Gay Liberation Network (www.GayLiberation.net)
www.GayLiberation.net