Whereas candidate Obama promised to bring real change to our nation's politics; and
Whereas tens of millions of Americans donated their time, money, and soul to his election and trusted Mr. Obama to live up to his word; and
Whereas President Obama violated Democratic ideals and broke Democratic hearts by:
escalating and widening the disastrous war in Afghanistan, causing attacks on civilians, cover-ups, and further hardship and casualties for our troops;
threatening war with Iran;
secretly sending special forces to 75 countries -- see this article;
increasing total defense spending to nearly a trillion dollars a year;
Twicedelaying the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, and continuing the use of private mercenaries;
extending President Bush's unjust bailouts of the banks and Wall Street;
opposing a bill that would have imposed windfall taxes on Wall Street bonuses;
surrounding himself with military, legal, and economic advisers held-over from the Bush Administration;
cutting shady back-room deals with Big Pharma and Big Insurance that eliminated a public option, prevented re-importation of medicines, and benefited the corrupt and inefficient health industry, in violation of his campaign promise (see also this);
repeatedly firing progressive staff members, such as Van Jones and Shirley Sherrod, based on distorted right-wing smear campaigns, without giving the accused a chance to defend themselves;
allowing anti-choice provisions to be included in health care reform, despite his campaign pledge to "make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as president";
supporting assassination of an American citizen residing overseas;
failing to support the Employee Free Choice Act, despite union support during his election and his promise to "to fight for the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act";
proposing to open sensitive coastal areas to offshore oil drilling;
favoring $50 billion in government subsidies for nuclear power but not for green energy;
working with Republicans in the Deficit Commission to gut Social Security, relying on false claims of pending insolvency, and ignoring the option of eliminating the income cap on social security taxes (see this and this and the editorial Whacking the Old Folks" from the June 7, 2010 issue of The Nation.)
appointing pesticide pusher Islam Siddiqui as chief agricultural negotiator in the office of the US trade representative;
prosecuting whistle-blower Thomas Drake, who exposed fraud, corruption, and illegal surveillance in the NSA “Trailblazer” program;
supporting the court martial of Bradley Manning, who leaked the "Collateral Murder video" and documents about the war in Afgahnistan; see also this;
failing to prosecute Bush-era crimes, thereby aiding Republicans and allowing them to hide the truth about their policies from the American people ("...the incredible lengths to which Obama has gone in his crusade to fully protect Bush, Cheney, and their co-conspirators, an effort that has included making threats to England should it be so uncouth as to reveal any evidence of wrongdoing", from An Honest Look at Obama's First Year) ; and
Whereas the President's centrism, his failure to lead, and his unwillingness to decisively break with conservative policies and framing have confused the voters and allowed our opponents to portray the Democrats as servants of the rich and the powerful; and
Whereas the President's unsatisfactory leadership stifles hope, divides the Party, and threatens the electoral prospects of Democrats in November; and
Whereas the fact that Republicans are worse is an unacceptable excuse; and
Whereas ignoring his failures just because the President is a Democrat would amount to tacit complicity in injustice: we must hold him accountable to prevent future wrongdoing; and
Whereas Preseident Obama has said, "We must form grass-root structures that would hold me and other elected officials more accountable for their actions" ; and
Whereas hiding our heads in the sand and pretending, for the sake of party unity, that all is well is counter-productive, since people will abandon the Democratic Party if they perceive that its members compromise their principles in order to win elections;
Therefore we express sadness and disappointment at President Obama's repeated betrayals of Democratic ideals and ask the President to pursue more populist and progressive policies that will benefit all Americans.
This petition and the list of signees will be sent to media outlets and to the White House.Mail me here if you have trouble with this form.
Obama's Drug War Budget Looks a Lot Like Bush's "President Obama's newly released drug war budget is essentially the same as Bush's, with roughly twice as much money going to the criminal justice system as to treatment and prevention," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the non-profit Drug Policy Alliance. "This despite Obama's statements on the campaign trail that drug use ... See Moreshould be treated as a health issue, not a criminal justice issue."