Brainwashing Propaganda, or Morality Lesson?

[kandrathe]

You must have an extremely high opinion of Obama to think that he could clean up, in 200 days, what Shrub and The Texas Oil Gang took eight years to screw up. And he'd probably done it, too, if they hadn't put Kryptonite in the Lincoln Bedroom.

Hey! What good is being Commander in Chief, if you don't get to order troops around.<blockquote>CLINTON, Iowa – Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama this afternoon called for an immediate start to the withdrawal of all U.S. combat forces from Iraq -- with a goal of full removal by the end of 2008 -- as he suggested the nation has lost its way because of the war. "We're not going to be truly united and resolute as Americans until we can stop holding our breath, until we can come together to reclaim our foreign policy and our politics and end this war that has cost us too much," he said. Obama's plan, outlined before an audience of about 500 at Ashford University, calls for the complete pullout of troops by the end of next year by bringing home one or two brigades each month. "Let me be clear: There is no military solution in Iraq. There never was," he said. "'The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year – now." Other Democratic candidates have also called for the immediate start of a troop withdrawal. While Obama's speech added some new details, it did not offer any dramatic new insights about his position on the war. "The American people have the right instincts on Iraq," Obama said. "It's time to heed their judgment…I will be a president who listens to the American people, not a president who ignores the American people."</blockquote>He seemed to believe we could pull them out in 2008, so why are they still there?

This article on Alternet hits toward what I'm talking about. Progressives to Gather at Tides Momentum Conference with Frustration with Obama on Their Minds. My other socialist and progressive friends are ready to dump the democratic party altogether. I've always though we have more than two parties anyway, because my dad was a democrat, and he believes very little of what Pelosi does. He was a life long union guy, but also a social conservative (Blue Dog). My mom is a Republican, and a Christian, but she is miles away from the insane and intolerant stance of someone like Pat Robertson. We aren't that far apart on fiscal views and getting to the smallest possible government, and she is a live and let live kind of person. I think we really have Green, Progressive/Socialists, Social Democrats (union middle left), Moderate Republicans, Libertarians, and Christian Conservatives. It is always strange to me when the extreme left goes so far it joins up with the extreme right.

My mom is a hawk though, and I'm really not. I have a hard time asking American soldiers to die for Afghan, or Iraqi freedom. Even if the strategic goal is regional stability, its way outside our constitutional system to pimp ourselves out as the worlds defender of freedom and democracy. I was remarking to someone the other day, that it's ironic that the US set up the Bundesautobahn in post-war Germany, but allowing an unlimited speed limit could never happen in the US.