Democrats smell Blood. Obama savages Republicans.

Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired

The founders of this blog do not and would never support a Democrat or any candidate from one of the capitalist parties or any capitalist party. In anticipation of criticism from the left, we do not believe the Green Party is a capitalist party nor is it a workers' party, this has not yet been defined.

But this assault by President Obama on the Republican Party and in particular its leadership is important and a reflection of the crisis in US bourgeois politics.  The gloves are off as the Democrats smell blood. There is no "reaching across the aisle" here and I'm sure Barack Obama gets a certain amount of personal pleasure socking it to them as the Republican Party implodes.

As we have on this blog over time, he refers to the backward elements the Republicans consciously appealed to in order to build a base such as right wing Christian Zionists, climate deniers, politically backward workers along with various stripes of racists, misogynists, xenophobes and cranks. But the appeal to this section of society was not just for a vote at election time.

A party needs footsoldiers and the Democrats have had the labor movement provide this service to a great degree, walking precincts, manning phone banks, raising money etc.  The Republican Party used these people to fill this void to mobilize and get out the vote, but as we warned, getting rid of them would be a different matter. These people are ideologically driven and their ideology is not egalitarian. 

Obama doesn't hold back, he lashes the Republican Party leadership for their opportunism in fueling  the flames while having some sympathy for those that actually believed what was said. For me, the fierceness of this assault confirms our assessment of likely developments that we outlined in our statement last week "US Capitalism. Its Political Monopoly comes apart. A new era opens." 

Trump will be defeated, and perhaps a right wing split led by Trump or one or the other influential right wing political figures will emerge. There is also talk of a right wing media corporation that would replace the likes of Fox News. It's hard to say but it is clear the movement is there for such an organized expression to develop. And as we point out, if this happens, it will surely be countered with some sort of left split from the Democrats. The rise of Trump and Sanders at the other end of the spectrum takes place within the framework of a global revolt against the status quo.  The US political scene and mass consciousness is entering a new era.

Please read our statement linked to above.

Obama has been very good to the US 1%. He has been as merciless as Bush as far as foreign policy is concerned and Hillary Clinton will continue in the same mold.  Obama is a powerful and astute representative of the US capitalist class, the consummate bourgeois politician. he is not, as some have described him, an "Uncle Tom".  This is a crude attempt at an insult and does not help us understand the political nature of the period.  Barack Obama defends his class with the tenacity of a Margaret Thatcher, he is a powerful man.  And in the struggle for which party of that class will govern US society for the next four years he grasps the bull by the horns and ensures the opponent not only goes down but stays there.