Sunday, November 20, 2011

Barack Obama - likeable man, seriously distracted

I like Barack Obama.
He appears, and, to be a genuinely pleasant bloke with life-affirming values. I say “appears” as I have never met him and so depend on others to form my view.
That said, he is ensnared in an unsettling political structure deemed democracy, but which is really something quite different.
Should the fellow, described as “the most powerful man in the world”, be allowed to implement, unfettered, his ideas then America would unquestionably be a better place.
Sadly, the political intrigue in which he is entangled is worsened by irrational fanatical-like beliefs and divisive neo-liberal forces he confronts, his political survival is, at best, tenuous.
Whatever he may or may not be, the US president is heavily influenced, some say “controlled”, by the military/industrial complex that revolves around short-termism and gives precedence to corporate profit ahead of the broader welfare of people.
Australia has long supped at the US dinner table, or more correctly scrounged the scraps, and has sleeping with them, but now the electric blanket has been cranked up another notch.
US President, Barack Obama
A US military base will soon be a feature of the northern Australian landscape further implicating Australia in America’s hegemonic plans, something about which we should be remarkably cautious considering its successes, read failures, in the past century.
Americans generally, but not specifically, are arrogant about their lifestyle and resultantly so sensitive about them, that they undertake in other countries a style of social engineering that many see as simply a military invasion.
They are legendary for claiming their actions as self-defence and within that, helping build democracy.
Comforted by such self-congratulatory thoughts, they killed thousands in Vietnam, mostly children, women and peasant farmers, and despite some of the heaviest bombing the world has ever seen, the Americans, and us by implication, were chased out of the country by a rag-tag army – democracy, of a type, had won the day.
America has frequently steeped beyond its borders to “defend” itself and if other had acted similarly they would be guilty of war crimes and subsequently, we need to be cautious about aligning ourselves with such a questionable “friend”.
America should look to its own troubles before turning its attentions to the world’s dilemmas.
Considering the hierarchy of those matters on which a nation’s wellbeing is measured, America has much social engineering to do at home to help the legions of their own who are falling through the cracks in its societal structures.
American life may appear glamorous, but reality is different with millions struggling to maintain even the rudiments of life.
Obama is a nice bloke, but rather than accommodating America’s imperialistic ambitions, we should kindly suggest he invest his time, money and efforts at home.

No comments:

Post a Comment