President Obama’s lame duck quackery

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VOL. 33, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2015 WWW.SOCIALISTACTION.ORG U.S. / CANADA $1 The ritual of President Obama’s annual State of the Union address to Congress (SOTU), required by law and custom, comes without any mandate for action. It has evolved into Reality TV viewed by tens of millions— but with less lasting impact than the style decrees of Fashion Police.

It is one component of a Rubik’s Cube puzzle known as Separation of Powers created by the all-white male property-owning Founding Fathers. When nei­ ther consensus nor compromise can be reached on major disputes with or within the American ruling class, it pro­ vides the fail-safe of gridlock.

Only once have these checks and bal­ ances, praised in our high school civ­ ics classes, completely broken down. When the then new Republican Party, perceived to be anti-slavery, elected Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860, most of the slave states refused to ac­ cept the vote and seceded from the USA. That split, of course, was soundly crushed in a bloody Civil War that did lead to the abolition of slavery—and the end of power sharing between the old vanquished slave-owner class and the newly triumphant capitalist class.

There have been numerous periods of gridlock over the years, but the present one since the Tea Party-driven Repub­ lican rout of the president’s party in the 2010 House elections is the longest and most bitter in living memory. Fu­ eled by the deep pockets of maverick billionaires such as the notorious Koch family—whose founding father was a charter member of the ultra-right John Birch Society—they built a motley base of disgruntled strip-mall capitalists, gun fanatics, science-bashing climate change deniers, and Christian extrem­ ists eager to fight Darwin, birth control and same-sex marriage.

Taking advantage of the massive ab­ stention of disillusioned Obama sup­ porters, they won control of many state governments as well as the House. Last November, they tightened their stran­ glehold on Capitol Hill by winning a nine-seat majority in the Senate.

The mainstream of the boss and bank­ er class has strong reservations about this transformation of their traditional favorite twin of the two parties they employ to run the government. They are more pragmatic than ideological, favoring stable government rather than constant confrontational stunts that fail to take care of business. With no seri­ ous challenge in sight from their mortal enemy—the working-class majority— most of the uber-rich prefer seduction to rape, fraud over strong-arm robbery.

All in all, they have done quite well on Obama’s watch, and they are aware that that this perfidious “friend” of la­ bor was able to do things for them dur­ ing the Great Recession that might have stirred up worker resistance if McCain or Romney had been at the helm.

There was some speculation among the chattering classes about GOP lead­ ers trying to clean up their mean-spirit­ ed, loony image in time to convince pa­ trons and public they are fit to govern before next year’s presidential election. But there was precious little evidence of such a daunting makeover before SOTU.

And the very next day after the presi­ dent’s speech, they committed a stun­ ning breach of protocol. Without even consulting the White House, the Repub­ lican Speaker of the House invited the head of a foreign government to explain to Congress the dangerous flaws in U.S. government foreign policy and military strategy.

They undoubtedly hoped to not only further tarnish the hated Lame Duck in the White House; they also seek to boost the prospects of their Zionist sis­ ter party in the March Israeli elections.

As Lisa Goldman noted on the Al­ jazeera America site, “the sight of their prime minister giving a speech in per­ fect English to applauding American legislators—the last time Netanyahu spoke on Capitol Hill, he received 29 standing ovations—could be just the thing to sway voters on the fence.”

And in lieu of honorarium, there are also moves to cut off the pittance of aid to the victims of war crimes in Gaza— carried out by the government led by their guest speaker.

While the ruling-class mainstream is certainly pro-Zionist—as is the presi­ dent—using foreign leaders to dis the commander in chief in the halls of Congress is just not done. The rehab to break the addiction of mindless parti­ san aggression has so far failed. Obama: “We’re beyond the crisis”

GOP focus on abuse of executive au­ thority as well as scandals real and contrived has given the president a free pass on vulnerable issues—such as war, civil liberties, the economy, and climate change—affecting those who work for a living.

With polling data and focus groups as inspiration, the Lame Duck flew in to what he does best—campaign stops across the country before and after SOTU. He hopes to frame public de­ bate—not to influence Congress, but to trail blaze for a worthy successor in (continued on page 4, in “The facts on climate change demand a radical solution”)

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Tony Savino / Socialist Action

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INSIDE SOCIALIST

Racist system — 2 Greek election — 3

$15 minimum wage — 5 Charlie Hebdo — 6 Films / Muslims — 8 Syriza victory in Greece

Women’s history — 9 1970s desegregation — 10 Polish miners — 11