Obama gets his Mojo back

Two things happened this week that merit some applause – ratification of the “START” treaty, which somewhat lessens our nuclear arsenal, but more importantly allows for Russian inspection to see that we are not violating the limits; and the elimination of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” That the latter was even controversial is an indication of how backward our leadership is in the advance of human rights.

The passage of the treaty surprised me, but I’m easily surprised. Our quest ought to be for total elimination of the weapons, as they, as opposed to conventional weapons, actually threaten our existence. Reduction of our stock from 2,100+ to 1,500 is hardly meaningful, given that one might set off a chain reaction that will end with our annihilation. And hidden in the details is a Bush-era initiative to gussy up our stock, spending $84 billion on making those weapons we are keeping even more threatening. This is a dramatic increase over what Bush initially asked for, $60 billion, as I recall. Again, Obama has out-Bushed Bush.

And then I heard on the radio yesterday that Obama praised the lame-duck session for accomplishing more than any lame-duck session in decades. And I heard radio liberals praise Obama, one saying that he “got his Mojo back.” Why? He gave a good speech. That’s all it takes to make these clowns happy.

What did he accomplish? Removal of DADT is nice, but has little effect on the larger issues of governance – militarism, taxes and rule by wealth – that affect our population. It has the feeling of a wedge issue, though I sympathize with those who suffered under it. I don’t minimize it for them, and congratulate the Congress for finally coming around on that one issue.

Obama’s big accomplishment was a massive betrayal of a campaign promise, for which he has gathered wide praise. While campaigning, he promised to allow the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire, while preserving them for anyone making less than $250,000 – virtually all of us. He didn’t “negotiate” or “compromise.” He screwed us with royal vigor. He saved the cuts for the wealthy, probably in perpetuity, while amazingly raising taxes on 45 million of our poorest households. He planted a time bomb in Social Security that will explode in two years.

It is a massive screwing! And done right out in the open. The 2010 elections did not reflect any kind of shift in voter sentiments. Voters with sentiments who voted in 2008 simply didn’t vote in 2010. Obama turned out to be, well, not so much.

Yes, he got his Mojo back. Democrats have to be proud that the old speech-maker is back on his game. For the rest of us, well, elections don’t matter in this country. Back to work now, folks. Nothing has changed.