House Negro

The vultures are circling in on Obama now. And the levers of power are all busy positioning themselves for the big seat at the new table. And more importantly, they are exerting their considerable influence to shape Obama's cabinet and his presidency.

I had always suspected that Obama received so much establishment support because they believed he would be their house negro - weak, pliable, and under control. I've never been more convinced of it than now. I think they might be surprised.

To understand what is happening with these appointments and the power plays going on, you have to understand the pluralist nature of American politics. Aside from the usual Washington cronies - Clinton people, Beltway Democrats etc.- who are all lining up for jobs, there are several pluralist blocks who are all moving fast to make sure they pull the levers of the new president-elect.

These include the gray eminences of Wall Street - investment bankers, financial titans etc. Then there are the pro Zionist Jews - the AIPAC crowd etc. Then there are the energy barons and oil tycoons. And there are the national security and foreign policy gurus."

Many of these groups intersect and to try to see them as simple teams of players is a mistake. They often play on multiple teams, switch sides on occasion, and will devour each other if they get the chance.

One thing they all have in common though is they are extremely invested in their opposition to any real change, and the one team they rarely, if ever, play on is our, the American people's team.

Obama has his work cut out for him. Navigating the labyrinth of interests, and chess like maneuvers that they will and are pulling will be harder than anything he's ever tried before. And all this talk about a new bipartisan spirit is for public posturing and consumption. The vultures are circling. That's what they know how to do. And there are literally trillions of dollars at stake.

People should try to keep all this in mind when judging Obama's moves - his cabinet appointments etc. We've heard in the idiot press a lot about Lincoln's bipartisan cabinet appointments. What they don't talk about is why he did this - not for some kumbaya spirit of cooperation. He did it to, as the old saying goes - keep his enemies closer.

FDR did the same thing. He scared the shit out of the progressives of his day palling around with the Astors and such. He was smarter then all of them.

So, while these appeals to "trust" Obama and wait before criticizing reflect a conception of American democracy that our Founders would have found appaling and frightening, there is a defense of Obama's moves that don't invite, through blind devotion and loyalty, a totalitarian state.

And that is, stop thinking of checkers. We're in chess world now. And if you want to be a part of the political process that helps the situation and extends beyond tattooing an "O" on your forehead, at least try to figure out what the game is.

For example, Rahm Emanuel. This is a man I don't like. He represents the unprincipled demise of the Democratic party and everything it stands for. But he is a smart SOB and knows the ropes on the Hill. And, by choosing him, Obama went a long way towards neutralizing a potentially deadly opponent - the AIPAC crowd. Kind of like capturing the bishop.

Obama will almost certainly choose a free market ideologue, Wall Street insider, who's bloody, neoliberal fingerprints are all over, not only the current financial crisis, but the decline of the American middle class for the last decades, as treasury secretary.

This could be the perfect instrument to execute dramatic changes in economic policy - unless he changes Obama. This is the danger with surrounding your self with enemies. It's like playing with your queen out front. Effective, but dangerous.

But if you only take one thing from this diary, let it be this: Obama cannot pull the country to the left by tugging at the edges. As so many progressive activists have discovered, this usually leads to those edges just tearing off and becoming useless in our hands.

If you think of the political spectrum as the astroturf on a football field, the 50 yard line is now about where our 20 yard line used to be under Nixon. The way to pull that back our way is to yank the whole thing from the center.

This is how we change this country. But pulling it from the center takes far more strength than tugging at the edges. This is why Obama needs everyone, even some powerful Republicans.

So there will be a lot of people who don't understand what Obama's game is. He will be accused of being the house negro, as I witnessed only yesterday, or an Uncle Tom. Or, like after FISA, he will be accused of being a sellout.

So thicken up your skins people. Politics is war. It's going to get bloody. Criticize, debate, hold him accountable, that's our job. But try to do it with some understanding of what's going on. Because if you really knew, you might spend more time praying then you've ever done in your life.