A Working-Class Materialist Responds To Michael Lerner

    Reading the Alternet headlines this morning I was intrigued to see that Rabbi Michael Lerner had written a response to Chris Hedges’ recent critique Ralph Nader Was Right About Barack Obama, a scathing polemic which your humble guttersnipe felt was spot-on. First off let me state that I have immense respect for Rabbi Lerner; I still keep a copy of  Tikkun’s A Resolution For Middle East Peace taped to the door of my food pantry for that document is one of the most reasoned and compassionate propositons for settling the Israel-Palestine conflict that I’ve ever read. But Rabbi Lerner’s rambling and half-measured denunciation of Hedges’s article misses the point. You can go on at length, as Rabbi Lerner does, about Hedges’ disrespect of the common humanity and spiritual worth of Obama and his minions in respect to Israel and the “little people” in the Democratic Party, but respectful consideration of opposing points of view doesn’t transform reality. Even at his most “progressive” moments during the presidential campaign Obama made an art form out of hedging his bets; for every specific promise there were 5 indistinct and ephemeral allusions to “change” that lacked any substance. In countless conversations with fellow “progressives” I would warn people to stay grounded; Obama was a centrist Democrat from a state long known for an intrinsically corrupt political culture; he’d been in the national spotlight for a very short time and had no track record for progressive initiatives; and yes, on both emotional and intellectual fronts he seemed leagues beyond the befuddled McCain and his fascist sidekick, but would those virtues translate to enlightened public policy? I think after a year of disappointment and betrayal we have our answer. Obama’s administration will forever be known for abandoning the American middle class to the whims of a “too-big-to-fail” financial elite interested solely in never-ending gargantuan renumeration; this era will be remembered as the epoch when exporting capital and labor overseas to realize obscene profits trumped all “spiritual” and philosophical considerations. Even the most cynical and politically uninformed among us can see that for 99% of the population late-stage capitalism is a sucker’s bet that spares no one. And to think that the “Dennis Kucinich” wing of the Democratic Party stands a chance to roll back the tide is to openly court insanity. For the evils that befall the United States are far beyond the grasp of a tepid political charlatan like Barack Obama. America in 2010 is a debtor state poised on the brink of fiscal insolvency with a rapidly-expanding,  jobless proletariat increasingly left to devour itself while our throughly corrupt and debased political class will NEVER in its’ present incarnation pass ANY meaningful health care, employment, or climate change legislation. I completely agree with Mr. Hedges that our only hope is to mobilize outside of the obviously paralyzed 2-party system. And with all due respect to Rabbi Lerner: Sir, I’m sure you live in a nice house, possess a sizeable bank account and have excellent health care. My advice is to toss away the comforts of your world and come down to street-level to engage head-on with those you profess to champion, where you’ll find that “respect” and “spiritual compassion” might get you a small coffee at Mickey D’s, provided you possess $1.16.