Critics of my “Obama has got to go”

By Michael Phillips

 

When I wrote Obama Has Got To Go I expected criticism.

I wanted criticism. I wanted critics to prove me wrong.

I wanted critics to dispel my fears for Libya.

 

In Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, the worst drought to hit east Africa in 60 years is jeopardizing the lives of millions. An estimated 10 million people face starvation. For example, more than 1,300 refugees are arriving every day in Dadaab in Kenya with no end in sight. The camps were built to accommodate 90,000 people, but now they are bursting at the seams with 370,000 refugees. Obama and his NATO interventionists do not have money to help these Africans but they have money to bomb the African country of Libya. Libya is the most developed country in Africa, with the highest standard of living, free education, kindergarten through college, and healthcare for all. But Iraq used to have a high standard of living too. But now that cradle of civilization, thanks to the US, is in shambles with hundreds of thousands dead, millions displaced and even basics such as electricity and piped water supply is horribly disrupted. Now, Libya faces the same fate as Iraq.

 

Libya has been a liberator for Africa and has been a leader in pan-Africanism. Now, black President Obama turned ‘Great White Father’ and his NATO accomplices are supporting rebels who are scapegoating, torturing and deliberately killing black Africans in Libya. Even black Libyans must flee their path. This demonization of black people is very ominous, but my critics seem to disregard it. I wish my critics were able to dispel my fears for the fate of Libya, but they did not.

 

War victims are not just statistics to me. I watched my step-daughter die a horrible death by cancer a few years ago and the devastation on her mother especially. I can only imagine how much more horrible it is for a mother to retrieve her blood-covered dead child from her US-bombed home. In war this happens regularly, except often mercifully the mother is spared that heartache for she is killed too. That’s what bombing does. That’s what bombing is doing in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan and in Libya. I asked one of my critics, a fellow anti-war activist, “How can anyone be pro-Obama and anti-war?”

 

Right here in America, a frightening 75,700 war veterans face homelessness on any given night, but Obama’s defense budget goes up and veterans affairs department face budget cuts. I wish my critics had proven me wrong on Social Security and Medicare, but Obama is about to cave-in to make cuts likely.

 

I remember that cold January Obama-inauguration-morning a few years ago, when I limped through the overcrowded people-thronged streets of Washington DC with my little granddaughter and my niece, who had come all the way from London, England, so filled with pride and hope for the change Obama promised. Over the years since, change has not come and hope has turned to despair. I wish my critics were able to prove me wrong and dispel my despair and restore my hope, but they did not. In fact, they did not even try.



Michael Phillips,
Editor, Hot Calaloo
http://www.hotcalaloo.com

Author, Boycott Money and Save Your Soul
- Launching The Goodwill Revolution".
http://www.goodwillie.org

 

"Bring Our War $$$ Home" - Codepink

 

 

As posted on TheBlackList eNewsletter


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  • Caricom

    Brother Michael,

    Greetings and peace. I feel your sense of betrayal and despair. Obama raised the hopes of the poor, dispossessed and unrepresented, then dashed them to the ground like fine china. Worse, he then ground the pieces into the earth with his heel by standing by and participating in the attempted overthrow of Libya. 

     

    But in the long run he may have done us all a favor by getting rid of all our illusions about Black people in positions of power. They are placed in those positions to maintain order. The bright light on the horizon is the reaction of the African Union to the threat to Libya. They are beginning to understand that if Libya falls due to internal turmoil, what will keep this enemy from my door? Your thoughts, my brother? Peace and blessings to you and yours.

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