Upon reflecting some on what appears to be Younge’s central thesis behind his claim that Obama’s candidacy was the beginning of a process,it appears to be entirely baseless. To justify his claim Younge would need to show historical examples in the U.S. where electoral coalitions continued, prospered and grew after elections were over, and transformed themselves into significant forces for fundamental social change. I challenge Younge to supply us with such examples. I, seeing none, propose that any thesis seeing electoral coalitions as capable of anything but pressuring for one or another set of reforms of existing capitalist relations is false and that the fundamental transformation of the capitalist system cannot and will not emerge from any aspect of the existing U.S. political and electoral process, this most definitely includes left electoral coalitions.

Obama’s appointment to cabinet level positions of the same folks that caused the latest crisis of capitalism is clear evidence of where the powwer lies in the USA. Does the military run the economy or does the economy run the military? The answer is YES.

The real role of whatever remains of a progressive movement in the USA is as a feeble reactionary force struggling to mitigate the worst excesses of an inevitable end result of unrestrained capitalism – endless war.

Younge says:

“Elections change personnel; politics changes agendas; power is the means by which those agendas are put into action. Getting Obama into the White House was the beginning of a process, not the end. The leap, by many on the left, from disenchantment to accusations of betrayal owes more to emotional and cognitive dissonance than political critique or strategic intervention. His victory, put simply, was the most progressive viable outcome of the 2008 elections – which illustrates not his left credentials but the severe limitations of US electoralism.”

I despair. Obama was a fully paid up member of Chicago’s Democratic machine, and who long ago dumped whatever ‘progressive’ ideas he had in the pursuit of power. That he is ‘black’ is merely skin deep (if you’ll excuse the pun) and pure window dressing. Obama is as expendable as is any other member of the political class.

Having writers like Younge write one, long cop-out for the Man, is ridiculous but par for the course I suppose, given the imperialist nature of the ‘left’ in the UK.