Barack Obama: Faithful Tool of U.S. Imperialism and Empire
By Larry Pinkney
The Black Commentator -

Recently, while researching the ever transforming nature of
imperialism and empire I remembered the nationally aired July 23, 2007,
interview of noted author, founder and first president of TransAfrica,
Randall Robinson. Robinson?s pertinent remarks in that interview of
almost a year ago brought to mind Barack Obama.

The above mentioned interview had centered upon 21st century U.S.
interventionism and imperialism in Haiti, the former Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide?s abduction, and Randall Robinson?s book titled,
An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a
President. What specifically brought to mind Barack Obama, were the
poignant words of Randall Robinson in that interview when he said, in
relevant part, concerning the bloody U.S. and European repression and
exploitation of the Haitian people: ?And so, you have this
collaboration between white, mulatto, wealthy elites in Haiti with the
United States and Western Europe to repress the large black majority.?
Though unlike Haiti, the U.S. does not have a ?black majority,? the
continued collective exploitation of Black, Brown, Red, Yellow, and
White peoples in this nation, and throughout the world, by the U.S.
corporate-military-prison apparatus, can only have a serious hope of
being sustained and expanded if there is an imperialist who can
successfully misrepresent himself to the people of this nation as being
someone who is fundamentally different.

Enter Barack Obama, de facto pro-Zionist, corporate-backed,
?unilateral? militarist, double speaking, wolf in sheep?s clothing - U.
S. presidential candidate in the year 2008.

Barack Obama: a candidate of ?color? touted as a ?peace? candidate
while simultaneously calling for ?unilateral? U.S. military actions in
other nations. A candidate who cynically claims to oppose the war in
Iraq, while simultaneously having stated that he differs little with
George W. Bush, since he (Obama) wants to have U.S. troops fight the
war of occupation in Iraq ?better,? and/or ?more effectively.? Indeed,
of late, Barack Obama and some of his colleagues in the Democratic
party have begun to utilize the hypocritical and misleading political
line, that U.S. troops and/or the war profiteering corporations in Iraq
should be redeployed to a different region; which Obama knows full well
is not ending the war but rather actually expanding it like a malignant
cancer.

Moreover, due to Barack Obama?s blatant and unconscionable loyalty to
apartheid Zionism, which is essentially the same as America?s racist
Manifest Destiny doctrine, it is quite obvious that one of the next
major targets of U.S. imperialist ambitions in any possible Obama
presidency would most assuredly be an attack against the sovereign
nation of Iran. This of course presupposes that the Bush/Cheney clique
does not pre-empt such a move by insanely launching its own military
attack against Iran, under some fabricated pretext, prior to the end of
this regime?s term.



Perhaps one of the most dangerous, repugnant, and historically damning
developments thus far in the year 2008, in the United States of America
in general, and Black America in particular, is the apparent relative
success with which the U.S. corporate-military-prison apparatus, and
especially a significant portion of the corporate media, have worked
overtime in manufacturing support of, and consent for, the de facto pro-
Zionist, corporate candidacy of Barack Obama. Observing even some so-
called progressives in the U.S. sell out the human rights of the
Palestinian peoples in the name of political expediency, by supporting
the pro-Zionist candidacy of Barack Obama, will ultimately go down in
history as one of the most shameful moments of this nation, along side
the genocide of the indigenous native peoples and the slavery and
dehumanization of Black people. This might yet be reversed, but even if
it is, it will remain historically as a terrible period of infamy.



No current U.S. presidential contender from either the Democratic or
Republican parties [i.e. the Republicrats] other than Barack Obama is
better suited to carry out the insidious imperialistic policies and
ambitions of the U.S., while simultaneously [with the assistance of an
overwhelmingly complicit news media] mesmerizing the people of this
nation with inspiring - yet remarkably nebulous - ?hope? and ?change?
rhetoric. No candidate other than Barack Obama can deliver such
inspiring and remarkable speeches, and upon close examination have said
virtually nothing whatsoever of systemic substance related to real
change. Presently, no presidential candidate other than Barack Obama,
has presented a better smoke and mirrors show to the ?American? people
since the - apartheid-supporting, anti-labor/working people, trickle
down economics - Ronald Reagan.

As scholar and author, Paul Street, recently and quite correctly noted
in relevant part re Barack Obama:

?And what?s so damn wonderful about Barack Obama?s biography? It?s a
story of kissing and climbing up to power in the industrialized world?s
most unequal and wealth-top-heavy society. He wouldn?t be where he is
if [he] wasn?t willing to play along with the corporate elite, whose
funding and media approval are required to make a ?viable? run at the
White House?Obama?s campaign is based on his desire to be president and
on the corporate plutocracy?s judgment that he might be the right man
for a key job: safely containing and channeling the demand for
progressive change that has been deepened by the reactionary Cheney-
Bush regime...?

While certain so-called progressives in this nation shamelessly
stumble over one another in their swooning adoration of, and
collaboration with, this 21st century colored chameleon imperialist,
Barack Obama; America heads into an ever deepening recession as she
looks for external enemies against whom to beat the drums of war and
thereby once again divert the attention of her citizenry from the
increasingly horrible internal economic and social plight of the vast
majority of Black, Brown, Red, and White peoples in this nation. To
reiterate the insightful words of scholar and author Paul Street;
Barack Obama is presently viewed by many if not most in the U.S.
corporate / military elite as being ?the right man? for ?the key job
[of] safely containing and channeling the demand for progressive
change? in the United States. Who better to thwart real systemic change
than the corporate candidate best pretending to offer it?



We must be reminded of the African proverb which states: ?Beware of
the naked man who offers you clothes.? It is indeed Barack Obama, who
in keeping with the famous words from the theatrical production The
Wizard of Oz, would have us Black, Brown, Red, Yellow, and White people
of this nation, ?Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.?
Nonetheless, that euphemistic ?man behind the curtain? is the corporate-
military-prison apparatus, much of which so strongly supports Barack
Obama. ?That man behind the curtain? is counting on successfully
continuing to bamboozle the people of this nation at the horrible
expense of its inhabitants, and the peoples of the world.

In their euphoria over the misleading, systemic, corporate-backed
candidacy of Barack Obama, some have been diverted from intensifying
the much needed fight for justice in the collective cases of Leonard
Peltier, Mumia Abul-Jamal, the Angola 3, Reverend Edward Pinkney [not
related], Lynne Stewart, the San Francisco 8, Marshall ?Eddie? Conway,
the numerous displaced victims of Katrina and government criminality &
neglect, and the ongoing cases of so very many other women and men of
all colors in this nation, and throughout the world. The subliminal
message of Barack Obama to Black people (and other people as well) is
almost like some science fiction Borg empire creature: ?Resistance is
futile.? In point of fact, resistance is definitely not futile but
absolutely essential in this ongoing struggle for social, political,
and economic justice. U.S. Empire and imperialism must be resisted and
struggled against on every conceivable level. And ultimately, we the
people, will be triumphant.



There simply is no short cut to attaining much needed and real
systemic change; and for a certainty neither Barack Obama nor any other
candidate within the Democratic or Republican parties offer such
change. In fact, very much to the contrary, they offer treachery and
betrayal. However, there is a viable alternative and it rests upon and
within we the people - we ourselves. I reiterate that we must organize
outside of the Democratic and Republican parties. We must build and
nurture ?third parties? whose platforms and objectives mesh with our
own quests and thirst for economic, social, and political justice for
all people, here and abroad.

Imperialism and empire must be replaced with the dogged determination
to bring about the realization of a just and equitable society based
upon human needs not human greed.

The only hope for real change is not to be found in any politician of
the Democratic or Republican parties, but in we ourselves organizing
day by day in the cities, towns, country side, and rural areas of
America. This is the real hope for real change. This is keeping it
real, and this is our collective task.

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member, Larry Pinkney, is a
veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of
the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only
American to have successfully self-authored his civil/political rights
case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights. For more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying
No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker, by
William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click here to read
excerpts from the book) Click here to contact Mr. Pinkney.

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