Not now, not ever – A repudiation of Obama and the New Bolsheviks and an Interesting Possibility

When Obama first burst forth upon the political scene lo these many months ago, my gut reaction was: "he's not ready", now I have to add "and he never will be". The fact that people don't see his poisonous combination of arrogance and naiveté, intellectual ignorance and disinterest, his viciousness and contempt for others has been a consistent source of amazement for me. I can only explain it by referring to a religious/cult model. As I recently discussed in my journal on creationism (http://theheraclitanfire.blogspot.com/2007/12/some-thoughts-on-creationist-movement.html), Obama on the one hand is curiously apathetic about any actual prescriptions for the body politic. His position on any particular subject is not even apparent until someone with substance (Hillary, for example) publishes her position, then, within a few days, Obama comes out with a copy of that proposal (with a few insignificant changes) and trumpets it as a breakthrough, ‘transformational’ event.

And let me pause here for a moment of personal outrage: You do not get to name yourself 'transformational', to do so is the absolute height of hubris, the kind of stuff that prompts Zeus to turn you into a smoking crater in the ground. Long after you are gone from the stage, if you have actually done anything worthy of the term, some unbiased observer may call you 'transformational', that's the only way it happens, period.

Back to the subject: Obama as a cult figure is very interesting on a number of levels. First, his obvious proactive participation in the scheme, the cadenced, content-free, 'revival' speeches - all sound and fury signifying nothing. The constant self-reverent, self-referent, narcissistic, messianic comments. Originally, I thought this was some kind of self-mocking sardonic commentary - alas, I've come to see that Obama isn't capable of that level of introspection (or any level of introspection for that matter). His is a true pathology, much like that of George W. Bush, remarkably similar in fact. Obama and GWB also have much in common with other historical tyrants: complete and adamantine belief in their ability to surmount any obstacle, appease any enemy, attain any objective without the slightest knowledge of the subject and in the absence of a plan of any kind. This is magical thinking of the worst sort and always, always ends in catastrophe for any who are unlucky enough to be in their wake.

While Obama as a cult figure is bad enough, the worse problem is his followers. Who are these legions of hollow-eyed zombies? Do they issue from great vats in the slums of strategic cities? Has a viral plague been released on to the voter rolls? Are they actually the remnants of human beings? Sadly, they are (or were) people just like us, tired, yearning, despondent, fervid, frustrated – but in their desperate search for a way out of the awful moral devastation that is the administration of GWB and his associates, they had the misfortune to meet an appealing sociopath (aren’t they always appealing?) and they made a fateful decision: “Ah!”, they said to themselves, “ I don’t have to think anymore, Obama will think for me. What a relief!” and they laid down their most precious possession - their minds - before the Golden Calf.

So the hordes that support Obama have made their choice but we who are left behind can still muster a thought or two among us, we can look at these cadres and dissect their structure, examine their provenance and from this research, try to discern their true purpose.

The Obamaites can be broken down into their several constituencies:

The Useful Fools

These are the fading power brokers of the Democratic Party. The Kennedy, Kerry, Pelosi, Dean crowd, etc. First off, they hate the Clintons, not so much because of the (very successful) right wingnut 20-year propaganda onslaught (although that counts as well) but because they can't stand the fact that the Clintons actually managed to do something (prosperity, peace, balanced budget, reduction of national debt) in eight short, insanely contentious years, whereas in all that time and in all the rest of their careers, they have done, well - nothing. So they have invested in Obama because they think he is a sock puppet like GWB (but their very own this time) not knowing that sociopathy looks very much like malleability to the ignorant. Seeing the loss of power precipice ahead of them, they are clawing for one last lingering draught of the only thing that matters to them. Blinded by their lust, they don't even see how Obama sucks them up, one by one, drains them dry and throws them over the side (anyone remember Bill Richardson?) Their power fantasies will crash and burn, should Obama ascend the throne, because other, much more ruthless partisans (see The New Bolsheviks below) have plans of their own.

The Rabelaisians

These are the smallest and most innocuous group of Obamaites. Closer in spirit to the political satirists and theater groups before them: Voltaire, Swift, the Yippies, Dario Fo, they participate as anarchists and don't really care that Obama is essentially a hollow man. In fact, they prefer it. If Obama were to attain power, they can count on an even more intense level of governmental dissociative behavior and a more nihilistic and oppressed populace - fertile ground for machination by interested parties (see The New Bolsheviks below).

The True Believers

The most populous and the most easily manipulated are the True Believers. Their adulation has no basis in reason or responsibility, admits of no error, brooks no question and answers no call but from "The One". In a paroxysm of religious fervor, they have given over their essential humanity and their capability of choice to their master: Obama.

Demagogues like Obama just love these folks, they are the cannon fodder for the revolution, completely disposable and completely invisible. They have absolutely no influence on events and exist only to serve as 'the masses'. Obama's model for this group is the North Korean populace - they starve to death for the "Dear Leader" because they have ceased to think, ergo, they no longer deserve the honorific "human".

The New Bolsheviks

This is the last, most dangerous group of so-called Obamaites. In actuality they are not his followers, nor do they have any interest in him, his policies (whatever they might be) or his plans. This group has been looking for a way to take over a puissant political organization for decades - now they are on the verge of success. They are not easily identifiable by their persons (with the exception of those such as Bill Ayers) nor are they easily defined by their political philosophy since they don't really have one. There is something they want, however: power.

One only has to go over the Obama political operation to see the hand of V.I. Lenin in action: the mass busloads of professionals arriving at every caucus station, beefy 6'4" aggressive males and/or screeching Obamaharpies intimidating caucus-goers into either leaving or shutting up.

Another side note here: who was the idiot who thought that a caucus was a more democratic way to get out the vote? Completely unregulated, totally open to any and all kinds of intimidation and fundamentally divorced from the founding principle of American democracy: "one man, one vote".

Oh wait... it was Howard "IamanObamaman" Dean... nevermind...

And of course, there is the defining Obama political maneuver - a racist political campaign designed to stir up the african-american vote by accusing his opponents of racism - nice work in a strictly political sense, it worked brilliantly, Obama got every black voter in America to cast their vote for him (this is - by definition - racism) on the theory that Bill and Hillary Clinton were white racists. Karl Rove must be spinning in his grave, oh wait...

The capper of this strategy: ever since his first tiniest success (after Iowa) there has been the constant clarion call for Hillary to step as aside as the Anointed One approaches his coronation. Without rhyme or reason, against every principle of democratic process, understandable only in the context of the naked, mindless, lust for power.

Back to the New Bolsheviks. The crowning of Obama is actually a sideshow for the NBs. Their intent is to take over the Democratic party organization, remove anyone who is actually democratic (can't have that) and replace them with hard core ideologues (sound familiar? it's exactly what the Bushies did to the Republican party). Note the current edict to Obama donors: put all donations to the DNC through the Obama organization… can you spell co-opt? Next, on the assumption that they manage to bamboozle the American public into voting for another incompetent narcissist - apparently not too much of a stretch these days - they will sweep out the old fanatics and replace them with shiny, brand new fanatics.

Oh please, you say, these are Democrats and they will only help restore the halcyon days of true representation and concerted government action on behalf of all the people (... pause... wait for it... cue: hysterical laughter until sides hurt).

The problem with ideologues is that, left or right, red or blue, fascist or communist, in the end they are all the same because they are interested in one thing and one thing only: absolute control over - you.

They are not interested in your problems or how to solve them, they are not interested in your children or how to raise them, they are not interested in your health or your happiness in your safety or your aspirations or your dreams - they are not interested in doing anything for you. They are only interested in what you can do for them, today and tomorrow and ever and anon.

V.I. Lenin knew what he was doing in 1917, the Duma (Russian parliament) was fractured and in disarray, Kerensky was a weak leader, the country was struggling in an unpopular war and the populace was deeply dissatisfied (sound familiar). As the leader of the minority party in the opposition he was in a lousy position to exert any influence so he called his faction the Bolshevik faction (the majority faction ) even though it wasn't and by using party thugs to intimidate and suppress his enemies, as well as co-opting armed workers in several strategic factories, he took over the party apparatus and staged a coup on the government.

A similar coup is being attempted right here, right now. The New Bolsheviks have co-opted the caucuses and, by threat and intimidation, have sequestered the votes of millions of people they are not entitled to. They have rigged the Democratic party delegate process in a systematic manner to the point where, even in states where she has won the primary, Hillary has been denied proportional representation. Superdelegates have been threatened and intimidated and the Democratic party itself has been threatened with "blood in the streets" in Denver if they do not declare Obama the winner before the convention.

That last is, itself, very interesting: if no winner is declared and the candidates go to a vote, there will be no winner on the first vote (assuming the superdelegates split more or less evenly) this means that all delegates are then released from their commitment to a candidate. Democracy ensues! ...can't have that, can we?

The Gathering Storm

Several scenarios suggest themselves when reviewing the previous information. They all have one thing in common; the Democratic Party will not survive this election. I was stunned when I realized this, I had assumed that the Republican party was about to disintegrate into its natural constituencies (the Corporate Fascist Party, the Christian Theocratic Party and the Southern White Racist Party) but it now appears that the Democrats are going to beat them to it.

The Hillary Wins Scenario

If the Democratic party actually pulls its collective head out of its posterior and decides to try to win the general election, they will nominate Hillary. If Hillary wins the nomination, the Obamaites will run around in circles with their hair on fire and scream about how the coronation was stolen from them by the hated Clintonistas. They may bolt from the party as a faction, more likely they will try to damage the Democrats as much as possible to ‘prove’ their point that without “The One” the Democrats are lost. Certainly they will not vote for her in November. This is not quite the catastrophe that it may seem, the Obama-fanatics are neither as numerous as they might appear (remember all those cross-over Republicans and independents?) and frankly, I don’t have great confidence that they’ll show up in expected numbers come election day.

The ‘Anointed One’ Wins Scenario

If Clinton is denied the nomination by the New Bolsheviks with the support of the power-ghoul party secretariat, the Democrats can count on a huge proportion of the Clinton constituency turning their backs and exiting the party. I know that most of the professional political corps pooh-poohs this as fire-breathing partisan hype but I have witnessed a level of fury about this that is absolutely unprecedented in all my political experience. This is not hot-blooded, blowhard posturing, this is cold, hard, grim resolve – and I’m seeing it from all quarters – it’s very, very real. And it means that Obama doesn’t have a snowball’s chance of winning in the fall, the Republicans have not even begun to train their howitzers on him and he’s such an easy target: I whipped up a classic Republican commercial in about ten seconds. A simple static picture of Obama with Rev. Wright’s voice in the background screaming: “God damn America!” over and over and over…

The upshot is: no matter what course the Democratic party takes, the result will be an unbridgeable schism. Personally, I would hope and recommend that the Democrats try to win the Presidency this fall and nominate Hillary. In the best of all worlds I would hope for Obama to accept the VP spot on her ticket. It’s possible that after 8 years of watching how a pro does it, he might be capable of taking the reins himself – I doubt it, but I’ve been wrong before. I don’t think that will happen for a number of reasons, first, I don’t think that Hillary would want someone as VP whose only aim would be to do her as much damage as possible. Second, I’m pretty sure that Obama’s overweening pride would prevent him from taking second place to woman. Third, he really would be only a heartbeat away from the presidency – and that’s a scary thought.

The other variant scenario is that the Dems will force him to accept her as his VP. This would be great for him and pretty bad for the rest of us. First, if she, trooper that she is, pitches in wholeheartedly, the Dems just might squeak out a victory in the fall. This would present us with a dilemma: Obama would think this is great – he can go on eating waffles while someone who actually knows what she’s doing would do all the work… for which he could take all the credit, a perfect solution for him. We would know that the so-called Obama presidency would be yet another Obama scam-sham but we’d have Hillary there to do the work that desperately needs doing.

Frankly, in the event that he secures the nomination, I hope he refuses to accept her (I’m pretty sure he will refuse – that arrogance/pride thing again and besides, can you see Michelle bein’ down with that?).

So again, trooper that she is, Hillary will probably work her butt off trying to bring the Dems together and put The Anointed One in the White House… but, what if?...

The Crazy/Beautiful Scenario

OK, it gets a little ‘Area 51’ here so be warned. What if Hillary (and Bill) thought to themselves: “Why am I busting my ass for the Democrats? They’ve made it perfectly obvious that they hate my guts and resent everything I’ve done for the party for the past 30-odd years. We could have had a universal health plan in 1994 if the Democrats hadn’t voted against it… what the hell am I doing here?”

I’ve been saying for years that we need a viable third (and fourth and fifth) party. Ralph Nader wasn’t wrong when he said that the Republicans and the Democrats are almost indistinguishable (yeah, I know: he apparently couldn’t see the difference between the village idiot and the class valedictorian either). The wretched, pusillanimous, politically inept, spineless performance of Nancy “Impeachment is Off the Table” Pelosi and the rest of the contemptible, so-called Democratic ‘leadership’ just proves the point, the train has left the station and we, the people are not on it.

What if, in an act of staggering political courage and brilliance, Bill and Hillary formed the “Centerline Party” (just a suggestion)? Formed for people who are sick of the ideologues on both sides, who want practical solutions to real problems, who want corporations to live up to their responsibilities to the people who made them great and powerful, who believe that government can be a great agent for change which benefits us all, who know that we truly are all in this together.

We could probably get most of the moderate Republicans, y’know the old-time true conservatives who actually want to ‘conserve’ things, the vast majority of Democrats – let’s call them the ‘Big Dog’ Democrats – who want to use government the way it should be used, repair infrastructure, set realistic policies on the economy (such as raise CAFE standards), ecology (get off Oil and on to Hydrogen), conservation. Stop stupid wars before they begin and restore America’s original luster as the “City on the Hill”.

This is a unique opportunity: the most talented politicians of their generation with proven track records and substantial backing by the public, vast worldwide connections, experience and respect; who better to create a new national political organization that actually could be revolutionize, revitalize and re-form American politics for generations ahead?

Like I said, Area 51, but to quote Rabbi Hillel, ”If not now, when? If not us, who?”