When Will the U.S. Be Freed?
Published in Asharq Al Awsat
(Saudi Arabia) on 9 November 2010
by Hussein Shabkasi (link to
original)
New life has been infused into the dying body of the American far right. The positive results it secured in the last congressional elections have brought it back to consciousness, albeit temporarily. However, the pre-election proclamation of a landslide victory did not happen, since the Democrats have preserved their weak majority in the influential Senate — although the House of Representatives went to the Republicans, clearly and emphatically. However, no sooner were the celebrations over than extremist voices rose within the party, under the leadership of the neoconservatives. These voices are demanding immediate war against Iran and voicing the importance of confronting China and putting an end to its progressive supremacy, as well as the necessity to slow down the withdrawal process from Iraq and Afghanistan. These views are promoted by Senator Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Senate Homeland Security Committee, two very important and influential committees.
Emotional voices within U.S. politics have not disappeared; they were simply on leave, trying to clean up the debris of their defeat following Obama's election as a candidate with completely different methods from those of the extremist conservatives — [methods] which the George W. Bush administration had adopted under the direction of the neoconservatives. Whereas Americans, as electors, today realize that their utmost worry is the economy — with the need to create employment opportunities, improve the investment climate and rescue the economy from bigger and more dangerous escalation — the extremist voices are, however, insisting on hijacking the U.S. agenda in the direction of violence, confrontation and extremism.
Today, Obama's administration stands accused of bringing about the economic disaster. This is a lie spread by the media machinery of the far right. Facts and figures clearly show that Clinton handed over to Bush an administration that was globally appreciated and that enjoyed a surplus in the balance of trade. But in a short time, Bush destroyed this surplus, entered unnecessary wars with no precise goal and wasted tons of money mysteriously. He sent the country, and together with it the whole world, into a bottomless pit of loans and banking bankruptcy, the effects of which can still be felt, and will continue to be felt, for a long time to come. The far right consists of suspicious individuals ranging from weird to funny, but all of whom are influential, pulling behind them what is like an unknowing herd of sheep on their way to their death.
The right is currently in the grip of two people. First, there is the prominent media figure, Rush Limbaugh, who holds extremist opinions and hosts a daily three-hour show broadcast on 650 local radio stations, with an audience of 15 million who greet, like and support his opinions despite their extremism, weirdness, ugliness and, very often, lack of cleverness. The other figure is former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, self-proclaimed as the guardian of American values, which are nothing more than ambiguous meanings devoid of details but which are enough to fire up the enthusiasm of the tired, angry, helpless, humiliated mass victim of the poor economic conditions. And behind all of this, the situation is being exploited by extremism-oriented academics and giant foundations — all of which are sponsored by groups led by the neoconservatives. The latter did not learn any lesson from what happened and are still promoting the same ideas but using different excuses. This time the excuse is not Afghanistan or Iraq, but instead it is Iran, Yemen and Sudan. These now make up the (unannounced) new axis of evil. Israel is kindling all this with malevolence, and their presence in Southern Sudan today, along with the success of the Israeli lobby in Washington in persuading the senior members of the Senate — including the experienced John Kerry — to visit Southern Sudan several times, is no simple achievement. But all of this is in line with the way of the evil neoconservatives.
America is calling for the liberation of the world from slavery. But when will America itself be freed from the neoconservatives?
Emotional voices within U.S. politics have not disappeared; they were simply on leave, trying to clean up the debris of their defeat following Obama's election as a candidate with completely different methods from those of the extremist conservatives — [methods] which the George W. Bush administration had adopted under the direction of the neoconservatives. Whereas Americans, as electors, today realize that their utmost worry is the economy — with the need to create employment opportunities, improve the investment climate and rescue the economy from bigger and more dangerous escalation — the extremist voices are, however, insisting on hijacking the U.S. agenda in the direction of violence, confrontation and extremism.
Today, Obama's administration stands accused of bringing about the economic disaster. This is a lie spread by the media machinery of the far right. Facts and figures clearly show that Clinton handed over to Bush an administration that was globally appreciated and that enjoyed a surplus in the balance of trade. But in a short time, Bush destroyed this surplus, entered unnecessary wars with no precise goal and wasted tons of money mysteriously. He sent the country, and together with it the whole world, into a bottomless pit of loans and banking bankruptcy, the effects of which can still be felt, and will continue to be felt, for a long time to come. The far right consists of suspicious individuals ranging from weird to funny, but all of whom are influential, pulling behind them what is like an unknowing herd of sheep on their way to their death.
The right is currently in the grip of two people. First, there is the prominent media figure, Rush Limbaugh, who holds extremist opinions and hosts a daily three-hour show broadcast on 650 local radio stations, with an audience of 15 million who greet, like and support his opinions despite their extremism, weirdness, ugliness and, very often, lack of cleverness. The other figure is former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, self-proclaimed as the guardian of American values, which are nothing more than ambiguous meanings devoid of details but which are enough to fire up the enthusiasm of the tired, angry, helpless, humiliated mass victim of the poor economic conditions. And behind all of this, the situation is being exploited by extremism-oriented academics and giant foundations — all of which are sponsored by groups led by the neoconservatives. The latter did not learn any lesson from what happened and are still promoting the same ideas but using different excuses. This time the excuse is not Afghanistan or Iraq, but instead it is Iran, Yemen and Sudan. These now make up the (unannounced) new axis of evil. Israel is kindling all this with malevolence, and their presence in Southern Sudan today, along with the success of the Israeli lobby in Washington in persuading the senior members of the Senate — including the experienced John Kerry — to visit Southern Sudan several times, is no simple achievement. But all of this is in line with the way of the evil neoconservatives.
America is calling for the liberation of the world from slavery. But when will America itself be freed from the neoconservatives?