May 30, 2012, It's the Kleptocracy, Stupid
Wendy Kaminer raises an interesting question: might Barack Obama's shameless fawning on Wall Street oligarchs (via expansion of the all-important national security state,manifested "on the ground" with the surveillance of, spying on, labeling of as "terrorists", pepper-spraying, etc. upon (mostly) youths who dare to question the social order even to the extent of shaming) not merely be evil and stupid and wrong in every sense of the word-- might it actually be bad politics? In a razor-thin electoral margin situation, Obama's deliberate targeting of members of his own base... just might not be the greatest of ideas in terms of getting Democrats (such as himself) elected or reelected. Not that it matters, of course. Wall Street wins, regardless of whether Kang or Kodos Obama or Romney wins.
Of course, as Albert Hunt observes, what had previously been extreme executive overreaching under George W. OBama has become "the new normal" under Barack H. OBush.
Just as "extraordinary rendition" and bombing civilian targets in push-button wars and, for that matter, the use of Guantanamo as a dumping ground for unwanted furriners were all fully in place in the Clinton Administration, it seems there's an "arc" to the total national security state that only an insane visionary with no chance of being reelected would dare even question. The premises of the national-security/financial-sector alliance that runs our polity (indeed, our entire national narrative) have not been questioned since (alleged pretensions of "hope and change" notwithstanding).
Here's the thing: the Obama Administration continues to hold dozens of men it acknowledges should be released in very expensive detention at Guantanamo Bay, while virtually no one has so much as been investigated (let alone indicted or convicted) for the undeniable criminality that caused the financial meltdown of '08 and the ensuing depression really bad recession we have been "enjoying" since. OK:those two events are absolutely related. The military industrial complex exists as a source to soak up much of the money that Wall Street magically creates (via its private-bank-owned-Federal-Reserve franchise to do so) which goes into "risk free" government debt (rather than say, getting lent to the rubes or their business enterprises)... and the fact that its now being deployed domestically to clamp down on those irritants who even try to shame the oligarchs... is merely a useful bonus. The broader point is, of course, to maintain a stranglehold on "resources" located on and under other people's countries, and of course, to spend as much American taxpayer money as possible in the course of doing so, lather, rinse, recycle, repeat. Everyone (in the 1%) wins.
Alrightie then. Alleged progressives who wish to root root root for the home team are welcome to go back to pretending that it actually matters whether Kang or Kodos Obama or Romney wins. The rest of us can, hopefully, get a better understanding and focus on the point of the system as we now find it: "It's the Kleptocracy, Stupid." [What to do about it? Brother Dmitry has a pretty good idea...]