Friday, December 11, 2009

"Rope a hope"

Here's the text of a letter to the editor I've emailed today to the SB NewsPress. I'll update if/when it's published.

Update: It was published on December 18, 2009.

Who is he? Is Obama a war president or an envoy of peace? You can’t tell from his Oslo speech, its eloquent phrases belied by his escalation of the Afghan war. Is he a man of the people, or is he in the grasp of Wall Street and insurance-company influence? With all his common-man rhetoric, he throws billions to bail out banksters and refuses to support single-payer health care. Does he favor transparency in government? If so, why does his administration continue Bush’s secrecy policies? In short, is Obama truly the agent of “change” or is he the purveyor of “more of the same”?

Many of his supporters—including this writer—who campaigned ardently for him a year ago are more than merely disappointed or dismayed. We look to Obama’s deeds, no longer to his words, and feel betrayed. Indeed, we now understand (to paraphrase Muhammad Ali’s phrase after his victory over George Foreman in Zaire) we’ve become the victims of “rope a hope.”

Thursday, December 10, 2009

A new slogan

to describe Obama's repeated failures to live up to his campaign rhetoric--and our sensation at having been betrayed by him--taken from Ali's boxing victory over Foreman in Zaire: "Rope a hope."