Hopeless

Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion

Jeffrey St. Clair, Joshua Frank

• Publisher: AK Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781849351102
• eBook ISBN: 9781849351119
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Politics & International Relations

"Those who feel that like lemmings they are being led over a cliff would be well-advised not to read this book. They may discover that they are right."—Noam Chomsky

"Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank have skillfully smoked out the real Barack Obama... the technofascist military strategist disguised as a Nobel Peace Laureate, but owned, operated, and controlled by Wall Street, Corporate America, and the Pentagon."—Thomas H. Naylor, co-author of Affluenza, Downsizing the USA

"The writers assembled here hit hard, with accuracy, and do not pull punches."—Marcus Rediker, author of The Slave Ship: A Human History

The Barack Obama revolution was over before it started, guttered by the politician's overweening desire to prove himself to the grandees of the establishment. From there on, other promises proved ever easier to break. Here's the book that dares not let Obama off the hook. It's all here: the compromises, the backstabbing, the same old imperial ambitions. Covering all major "Obummer" categories since he took office, this fast-paced collection will delight the critical and offer food for thought for those contemplating the 2012 electoral circus—and beyond.

Jeffrey St. Clair is co-editor of CounterPunch, author of Born Under a Bad Sky and Been Brown So Long it Looked Green to Me, and co-author of Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs, and the Press.

Joshua Frank is an environmental journalist and co-editor of Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance in the Heartland. His investigative reports and columns appear in CounterPunch, Chicago Sun-Times, Common Dreams, and AlterNet.

Table of contents

• Prelude: Barack Obama, Changeling
• Marketing Hope The Birth of the Hero
• Obama’s Money Cartel
• Obama’s Kettle of Hawks
• Obama’s Israel Problem
• From Oscar Grant to Barack Obama
• AIG and the System
• Orwell in Baghdad
• A Redneck View of Obamarama
• Obama and Abortion Rights
• From State Secrets to War to Wiretaps
• Obama and the Man in the Hat
• The Wall Street White House
• The Honduran Coup: A US Connection
• Obama’s Immigration Reforms: Neither Humane Nor Thoughtful
• The Wolf at Trout Creek
• Obama’s Mistakes in Health Care Reform
• The Afghan War Question
• Obama and Nuclear Power: Resurrecting a Failed Industry
• The Novocaine Presidency
• Obama’s War for Oil in Colombia
• Blowback of the Drones
• America the Pacified
• Kagan’s Disturbing Record
• Obama and the Nuclear Rocket
• Torturing the Rule of Law at Obama’s Gitmo
• Eat, Pray, Be Disappointed
• Let Them Eat Oil: The Bi-Partisan Path to the Gulf Catastrophe
• Obama’s Sellout on Taxes
• Obama and Rendition: Exporting Torture
• The Murdered Women of Juarez
• Obama’s Puzzling Silence
• Inside Obamanomics
• The US as Israel’s Enabler in the Middle East
• Obama the Deregulationist
• Monsanto’s Minions: The White House, Congress, and the Mass Media
• The Torture of Bradley Manning
• Winding Down Obama
• Sexual Politics in the Age of Obama
• What Has Bin Laden’s Killing Wrought?
• Much Ado About Nothing: Obama’s Big Immigration Speech
• The Obama Administration and Iran
• Obama’s Nuclear Weapon Surge
• Friends Without Benefits: Obama and Organized Labor
• War Colleges
• Politics as the Earth Burns: Obama and the Climate Crisis
• Obama’s Attack on Social Security and Medicare
• Obama’s Assault on Civil Liberties: Twenty Examples
• The Top Ten Myths in the War Against Libya
• War and Debt
• Perpetual War: “Grand Strategy” after 9/11
• Guantánamo, Torture and Obama’s Surrenders
• Obama and the Economy
• The Audacity of Dope
• Black Backlash Against Obama
• Coda: Occupy the System
• Index
• Advance praise for Hopeless
• Copyright
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