The Lingering Odor of Betrayal

In connection with yesterday's report of Obama's decision to all oil exploration of offshore areas, there's been a good deal of outcry from the environmentally aware as well as committed progressives who have felt stomped on by Obama ever since they voted for "change" back in those ancient days of 2008. One of the respondents to the Obama speech, which was published in TPM, ran down the litany of Obama flip-flops (or betrayals, if you favor harsher language). He calls himself oleeb, and he writes a blog--strongly anti-war, from all appearances--in response to TPM postings.

Why Barrack Obama is as Republican as any Republican

(according to ooleb & in his words)

• Open ended continuation of two pointless and costly wars that are bankrupting our nation.
• 100% Adoption of the Republican bailout plan for Wall Street.
• 100% adoption of illegal Republican domestic spying policies, torture, refusal even to investigate known war crimes, continuation of illegal indefinite detainment policies and wholesale abandonment of the rule of law in favor of a metastasizing national security state.
• Enactment nationally of the Republican Mitt Romney Healthcare Plan from Massachusetts except it isn't as good as the plan Romney got passed in Massachusetts.
• Support for the Republican wet dream of more reliance on nuclear power which will require massive public subsidies for private utility companies.
• More militarism and an open ended promise to continue real growth of 3-4% for the military for the foreseeable future even though we spend more on "defense" than all the other nations on earth combined.
• Another Republican wet dream: a special commission tasked with devising a politically acceptable scheme to dismantle and destroy Social Security. [Baysage observes: I have not heard about this one.]
• Republican offshore oil drilling policies accompanied by bullshit rhetoric about how this will reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Lest anyone get the idea that because I blast the Republican party frequently and vigorously, I am any great fan of Barack Obama and the Democrats, please disabuse yourself of that notion. The list above is a pretty good start on the list of reasons why.