Obama and the American Nightmare

I had a comment to y'day's post that started the wheels turning in my poor old besotted brain.

This is what Cap'n Rich wrote me:

He's okay by me but is this the time for the Democrats to be experimenting with blacks or women?

We have to win this election or all is lost.

Perhaps someone else will step to the fore in the near future.

I don't know if Obama's bid for the nomination can be called an experiment.
From where I sit, it looks more like a groundswell. For whatever reason, this guy cuts across boundaries and makes people think things could really be different.

In a way, it is like with Howard Dean -- except that they haven't been able to kneecap Obama like they did Dean with the Rovian echo machine. Dean's bid grew out of the grassroots and Internet. It was a democratic initiative in the real sense of the word and it got pulled up like a weed.

For some reason, Obama has been able to avoid all attempts to smear or swift boat his campaign. Perhaps it has been because they didn't take him really, really serious soon enough. God knows they have tried to smear him, but, up to now, he just comes on stronger and will be hard to stop.

Frankly, I think he has a better chance than anybody -- even Hillary -- of defeating any candidate the Repubs can field -- including Giulanni. If he garners the nomination, the only way he could be stopped is with skullduggery of the ultimate and most darkest sort -- that's why, for better and for worse, I drew parallels to JFK, RFK and others.

That is the one danger I hint at.

The other thing that troubles me is that the legacy of the present administration's attempt to reinvent the office of President as a Unitary Executive will not disappear just because we elect a decent person. The momentum towards Empire, the City of Light on the Hill, the Pax Americana, with all the shadows in its underbelly will not be ended by a bit of benevolence however well intended.

The drift has been there at least since the end of the Second World War, in fact since the end of the Frontier in 1890 -- the Frontier was gone, but the Manifest Destiny did not go away, it only morphed.

The present administration has been more active than any previous executive to change, dismantle in fact the system of checks and balances built into the American system of government. A minor but telling example is that, from almost day one, the Codpiece has preferred the title of Commander in Chief and all too many civilians have acquired the habit of referring to the President as "Our Commander in Chief" -- this is of course complete bullshit.

The President is CIC of the armed forces and nothing more!

The word Emperor comes from the Roman title "Imperator" -- it is a military title and is well translated as "Commander in Chief".

I won't go so far as to say that if we get a Republican president and congress in 2006 that "all is lost" -- however, the coming election will be as important as the one in 1860.