For reasons to complex for my silly head to fully explain, 1776 and 1865, sti ll provoke profound emotions amongst a huge section of America. For me it is the promise and possibility to change and right historical wrongs. 2 and a half million people showed up, to directly take part in Obama's inauguration. No matter what ones interpretation, yesterday has to be the greatest mass gathering in the history of America. Obama and his wife Michelle, dancing to the song, "At Last" was much more symbolic and rich to fit into the ideological category called "social-patriotic." "At last, my love has come along, My lonely nights are over, And life is like a song." And Beyonce's . . . a stunningly beautiful women, singer and performer, sung the opening song in the image of Etta James! Aretha Franklin not only sung, but presented the Obama family with 17 historical recording of her father's sermons in Detroit. These recording were done by the legendary recorded and record producer Joseph Von Battle. The living connection between, Etta James, Aretha, Beyonce, Joseph Von Battle, "At Last," and Detroit as the epic center of industrial strife, from clinched fist and open mouths screaming "sit down," to and uprisings, as in Detroit 1967, was emotionally overwhelming. Even today Detroit is the center of an incredible level of destitution as the economy goes through seizures driven by the ascendency of a form of capital, living day to day as a notional value. Comparing Obama's inaugural events with Ronald Reagan's inaugural event, seems to forget that Ben Verien preformed in "blackface" as the ultimate protest against Reaganism. Reagan openly declared his ideological intent on making capital accumulation - greed, popular and respectable in American culture. Reagan's ascendency to president was also a powerful political backlash to Watt's 1965, although his anti-communism spans back into the 1950's. Perhaps, what calls for comparison between Obama and Reagan is economic conditions at the end of the Carter administration and economic conditions at the end of the Bush W. administration. The the hostage taking then and the phoney was against terrorism today. I see zero commonality between Reagan and Obama, other than reaching the position of President. JFK, ascendency to President and his inaugural event was in the period of the destruction of Jim Crow. I was not aware of mass black participation in any of his events. Obama is a historical marker in casting off much of the legacy of Jim Crow. I am aware that wiping out Jim Crow is not a fight for economic communism, but "man does not live by bread alone." I understand Obama's ascendency to President to be a rejection of Bush W.'s economic and political policies, rather than the second coming of the image of Christ. Voting for Obama was not a simple abstract political act, but emotional and ideological. That is why playing the song "At Last" and the President and his wife leading the first dance was so symbolic. "At last" the political takeover of national government by the historic Southern political class was broken. "At Last" a Negro can walk into the White House and when the police follows him, it is because they are following their boss and commander and not planning to shoot him in the back. Surely, everyone is aware of this aspect of our history. There is a love song involved in politics and it serves no purpose to pretend that over a billion people on earth did not directly celebrate the promise and vision and idea of freedom and emancipation, bound up with Obama in the flesh. The emancipation of the proletariat is not an abstract thing devoid of emotions. Nor, are communists one homogenous mass of identical ideological warriors.
To see only a celebration of social patriotism in the Obama inauguration and zero connection with social struggles constituting over 400 years of American history seems lopsided, and makes me think that only simply hate dancing. Well, I remain one communist that still dance. WL. On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 12:39 AM, <[email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) > wrote: As a communist, I voted for Obama. There was a deep need within myself to be a part of a historical moment in America. My wife and I voted for Obama; my children voted for Obama and all of their coworkers and friends voted for Obama. Great social-patriotic non-sense. A celebration of U.S. patriotism is a celebration for U.S. slaughter and imperialism. We have seen Obama's kind of inaugral celebration before with Ronald Reagan and JFK. Any person who opposes the slaughter, degradation, and exploitation of people around the world should be frightened by such displays in the U.S. What is Obama going to change in the U.S. empire? Is he going to dismantle the regional commands? stop supporting Israel in their slaughter of Palestinians? stop the bombing of Pakistan, and withdraw from Afghanistan? stop the continual slaughter of people in countries like Hati and Colombia? I don't get it. Why would a person who calls herself a communist endorse this celebration of U.S. super-patriotism? WL. This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from _http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm_ (http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm) ____________________________________ Inauguration '09: Get _complete coverage_ (http://www.aol.com/?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000027) from the nation's capital. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l **************From Wall Street to Main Street and everywhere in between, stay up-to-date with the latest news. (http://aol.com?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000023)
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