http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/obama/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Wed, 14 May 2008 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3682/winning_the_white_working_class/ Tom Lewandowski, a former General Electric factory worker, heads the central labor union council in this northeastern Indiana city of a quarter million people. Once an industrial powerhouse, Fort Wayne is still a manufacturing center despite decades of plant closings that have often been due to jobs being moved overseas. Although socialists were powerful in local politics here before World War I, the town is now a Republican stronghold -- even among many blue-collar workers -- in a state that hasn't voted for a Democratic president since 1964. Fort Wayne, says Lewandowski, his wide grin flashing, is "a red stain on the red state." As a labor leader, Lewandowski remained neutral in the Indiana primary, which Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.)… Barack Obama Politics working class Kari Lydersen Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:00:02 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3862/the_audacity_of_rhetoric/ In January, when the United States remembered the tragic death of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., an urban history professor at the University of Buffalo named Henry Louis Taylor Jr., bitterly remarked: "All we know is that this guy had a dream. We don't know what that dream was." Taylor was referring to an erasure of historical memory after King's 1963 march on Washington, after he was cheered as "the moral leader of our nation." In the years before his death, King changed his focus to poverty and militarism because he thought that addressing these issues -- not solely racial brotherhood -- was crucial to making equality real. And he paid the price for this change, becoming more and… Martin Luther King Jr. Obama rhetoric Kari Lydersen Fri, 26 Sep 2008 05:00:32 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3933/twenty_two_to_know/ In 2007, the Pew Research Center conducted a poll asking Americans if they could identify a man named Robert Gates. As the Iraq War raged, fewer than one in four respondents knew he was the secretary of defense. Is this a sad commentary on whether the public is following events in Iraq? Perhaps. But more likely it's a reflection of the overall obscurity of our government's top decision makers. In a media environment that portrays presidents as the sole messianic implementer of their agenda, the steep drop-off in name recognition is predictable -- even if it belies how power really works. Far more than a brain trust of advisers, the U.S. Cabinet has been the instrument by which political rhetoric… election 2008 Obama politics Kari Lydersen Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3949/hope_vs_fear/ One thing is certain: either Senator Barack Obama's race will prevent him from being elected president, or it won't. I wonder about this not just as an African-American citizen and voter, but professionally, as the legislative and political director of a union that endorsed and supports his campaign. But this presidential race is particularly personal for me because I am caught between the hope and the fear of the generations before and after me. These generations are not theoretical abstractions or demographic subsets of the electorate; they are my father and my daughter. My daughter is the hopeful one. She decided to support Obama for President back in 2007, urging me via a blast e-mail from the campaign to "join… race election 2008 Barack Obama Kari Lydersen Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3966/demons_out/ The neocons who sold Americans the Iraq War are working hand in hand with the Christian Right to make sure that a McCain-Palin administration will take up where Bush-Cheney leaves off. Building on doubts some white Americans have about electing a black president, their strategy is to stoke fear that Sen. Barack Obama is the Antichrist. Google it and you will find more than 1.3 million Web entries that discuss Obama and Anti-Christ. In early August, the McCain campaign released an online ad titled "The One," that suggests Obama could be the Antichrist. McCain campaign officials denied they were trying to draw parallels, but many Christian fundamentalists understood. The ad portrayed images that are only found in the 16 books… Barack Obama Christian Right election 2008 Kari Lydersen Mon, 20 Oct 2008 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3969/the_view_from_ohio/ Winning Ohio will be important, maybe even essential, for Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain this fall. And the decision will likely come down to the wire, depending in part on wavering voters like Ruth Santo, a retired department store manager living in Rocky River, a flag-festooned middle- to upper-middle income suburb of Cleveland. Concerned about the economy and healthcare, and critical of President Bush, Santo worries most about young people like her grandchildren. "I don't even know what they're going to have," she says. "So many things are changing so horribly." Obama has some good ideas, she says, but she thinks McCain is "a bit of a rebel" who would also bring change. "I think Obama is too inexperienced,… election 2008 race Obama Ohio Kari Lydersen Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3975/honest_abe_and_honest_obe/ Abraham Lincoln will rise again. At least that's what Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama would like you to believe. Since 2005, when he penned an homage to Lincoln for Time magazine, the senator from Illinois has been peddling the notion that he is the rightful heir to the Lincoln legend, as rail splitter, rhetorician extraordinaire, debater and liberator. In February 2007, when Obama kicked off his historic campaign in Springfield, Ill., he told the throngs he had returned to his Illinois State Senate stomping grounds to stand "in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a house divided to stand together." He continued: "By ourselves, this change will not happen. Divided, we are bound to… election 2008 Obama race Kari Lydersen Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4017/old_dreams_present_opportunities/ I have been doing a lot of soul searching as this momentous election has drawn closer. Of all the hopes and fears that have passed through my mind, one of the most powerful has been the sense that that the clock is winding down for my generation -- the "'60s generation." By the time you reach late middle age, facing your own mortality is nothing new. But what has been gnawing at me in recent months is how loudly the clock is now ticking for my generation in a political sense. I've long since let go of my youthful dreams of creating a world of peace, love and harmony based on social and political egalitarianism. Like many people who came… 60s generation obama Kari Lydersen Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:55:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4025/an_open_letter_to_barack_obama/ Dear Brother Obama, You have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. Us being the black people of the Southern United States. You think you know, because you are thoughtful, and you have studied our history. But seeing you deliver the torch so many others before you carried, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, only to be struck down before igniting the flame of justice and of law, is almost more than the heart can bear. And yet, this observation is not intended to burden you, for you are of a different time, and, indeed, because of all the relay runners before you, North America is a different place. It is really only… election 2008 obama politics Kari Lydersen Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:28:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4027/a_stunning_victory_now_what/ Obama's stunning breakthrough election as the first African-American president -- at a time when he is the only black U.S. senator -- is a testament to his personal qualities and the sophistication of his campaign. It obviously owes a lot to the well-earned unpopularity of Bush's policies, which contributed to the financial crash. But America had also changed: young white people are less racist; there's a growing Latino vote; black voters felt energized and inspired; the growing ranks of highly educated voters are more liberal. It just hasn't changed enough: a majority of whites voted for McCain (bolstered by Southern whites and thus reflecting a persistence of regional patterns, despite some Obama breakthroughs where the South is changing the most… election 2008 obama Kari Lydersen Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4024/cesar_chavez_and_the_roots_of_obamas_field_campaign/ In mid-October, Zack Exley wrote a compelling article on the Obama campaign's extremely effective "ground game" in Ohio. Comments on the piece--as well as people's experience elsewhere--confirmed that Obama's highly disciplined Ohio field operation is used in other states, which helps explain the candidate's success in the polls. But Obama's voter outreach model is not a new invention. Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers, and UFW alumni developed many of these core grassroots electoral strategies, and it took the Barack Obama campaign to update them for the Internet age and implement the UFW model on a national scale. The story of the Obama campaign's utilizing an electoral model that Fred Ross initiated in Los Angeles in 1949, passed on to… chavez obama UFW Kari Lydersen Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:26:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4034/ghosts_of_clintons_past/ Don't say you weren't warned: If President-elect Barack Obama follows through with the initial direction set out by his transition team and senior advisors in key policy areas, the Democratic party will be, understandably, voted out of power within four short years. Obama has assembled a team of "pragmatists," "centrists," "managers" and "deal-makers"--so naturally progressives such as myself are going to grouse. Then again, he never actually promised to pursue any particularly progressive agenda ("change," "hope" and "fired up" notwithstanding). Our grousing on that score can reasonably be dismissed as classic left-wing kvetching. So don't get me wrong--I'm not complaining that Obama is not left-wing enough. Of course he's going to disappoint his activist base (me included) soon--we who were… obama transition clinton Kari Lydersen Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4037/origins_of_the_obama_machine/ During the United Farm Workers' critical decade of growth, from 1966 to 1976, farmworker activists became experts in conducting voter registration among low-income and minority voters, and operating get out the vote (GOTV) drives to boost turnout in traditionally low-voting, working-class neighborhoods. The UFW responded to political attacks from growers by adopting innovative approaches for almost every type of electoral campaign. These strategies brought the union victories in statewide initiative contests, legislative fights and races for public office--and continue to set the course for today's progressive election campaigns. In 1966, the farmworkers movement had no more experience with politicians and elections than it had with boycotts. Cesar Chavez's previous job as an organizer for the Community Services Organization had included… farmworkers Obama campaign unions California Kari Lydersen Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4039/why_cynics_are_wrong/ Days before the election, Noam Chomsky told progressives that they should vote for Obama, but without illusions. I fully share Chomsky's doubts about the real consequences of Obama's victory: From a pragmatic-realistic perspective, it is quite possible that Obama will just do some minor face-lifting improvements, turning out to be "Bush with a human face." He will pursue the same basic politics in a more attractive mode and thus effectively even strengthen U.S. hegemony, which has been severely damaged by the catastrophe of the Bush years. There is nonetheless something deeply wrong with this reaction -- a key dimension is missing in it. It is because of this dimension that Obama's victory is not just another shift in the eternal… obama election 2008 cynicism Kari Lydersen Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4041/mandate_for_change/ What do we do now?" That's the question Bill McKay (Robert Redford), ponders in The Candidate (1972). He won the presidency, promising "a better way." After Nov. 4, America is asking Democrats the same haunting question. These are heady times for the party of Thomas Jefferson, Franklin D. Roosevelt and, now, President-elect Barack Obama. Only a few years ago, Democrats were almost relegated to permanent minority status by a "Mission Accomplished" sign and an ass in a flight suit. But since President Bush's 2004 re-election, Democrats have gained at least 50 House seats, 12 Senate seats, seven state houses and seven governorships. Republicans used the threat of "socialism" to turn the 2008 campaign into a referendum on conservatism. The result?… Obama election 2008 mandate Kari Lydersen Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:06:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4056/tuning_out_the_braindead_megaphone/ If you're having trouble remembering what the recent election was all about, rest easy: you're probably not going senile – you're likely experiencing the momentary effects of brainwashing. For weeks, your television, newspaper and radio have been telling you America is a "center-right nation" that elected Barack Obama to crush his fellow "socialist" hippies, discard the agenda he campaigned on, and meet the policy demands of electorally humiliated Republicans. This is the usual post-election nonsense from the Braindead Megaphone, as author George Saunders famously calls our political and media noise machine. When George W. Bush wins by 3 million votes, the megaphone blares announcements about a conservative mandate that Democrats must respect. When Obama wins by twice as much, the… election 2008 media barack obama Kari Lydersen Thu, 27 Nov 2008 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4046/proud_of_obama_for_now/ Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Nov. 4. What was once a distant possibility -- and an audacious hope -- has become an extraordinary fact. The election of a black president was considered so unlikely that it seemed silly to even contemplate. I never thought it would happen in my lifetime. When CNN announced Obama had won, tears unexpectedly welled in my eyes. The election of the nation's first black president struck some deep psychic chord. But outside of my psyche, a President Obama has many meanings -- some contradictory. I feel strong pride that such a talented black American has accomplished such a towering feat against such overwhelming odds. I am proud… Obama election 2008 race Kari Lydersen Tue, 02 Dec 2008 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4049/how_will_the_media_cover_obama/ It's the morning after Election Day and, like millions, I am filled with elation and hope. CNN let me feel that for about one hour. Then came its pundits. They warned of all the problems facing President-elect Barack Obama -- the economy, threats from Pakistan, the desperate need for universal healthcare, global warming, all the things Bush ignored or denied for eight years. And they emphasized how Obama will have to -- have to -- govern "from the center" and not move "too far left" the way Bill Clinton did. Clinton! And where's all that mandate talk that Bush got in 2004? Now that Obama and his strategists David Axelrod and David Plouffe have presided over one of the most… media Obama election 2008 Kari Lydersen Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4077/those_other_elections/ A month after Barack Obama's triumphant victory, we are still celebrating America's only authentic national religion, and it isn't Christianity--it's presidentialism, the worship of the president as an all-powerful, all-knowing deity who is the only important political actor in our country. This theology explains why both the public and the press corps seem far more interested in the Obama family dog and the Obama daughters' choice of elementary school than what happened down ticket on Election Day. In our nation, presidential pooches and prep schools are front-page stories. Local democracy is, at best, filler surrounding classified ads and comic strips. That said, the Founding Fathers would be happy to know that, though their efforts to constitutionally constrain presidentialism failed, we… elections Obama Working Families Party Kari Lydersen Mon, 08 Dec 2008 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4066/beyond_casino_capitalism/ Typically, few people turn to dead French poets for economic analysis, but Stéphane Mallarmé proved wiser than many a billionaire financial trader when he wrote, "A throw of the dice will never abolish chance." Translated into the prosaic language of the global economic crisis, his epigram might read, "Even the sale of more than $60 trillion in credit default swaps will never abolish the risk of crummy loans." Until recently, the wizards of Wall Street believed they had abolished -- or at least "managed" -- risk so well that they could turn the global economy into a casino. By playing the roles of both the gambler and the house, they were always guaranteed to come out the winner. In the… financial crisis Obama economy capitalism Kari Lydersen