Are you an Obama Kool-Aid Drinker?

Oh Yeaahh! | 17.11.2008 01:44 | Anti-militarism

If you an Obama Kool-Aid Drinker (like many Americans and other people around the globe), here are just a few articles about the Messiah himself that you might want to read:

Are you an Obama Kool-Aid Drinker?

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves". Matthew 7:15

If you an Obama Kool-Aid Drinker (like many Americans and other people around the globe), here are just a few articles about the Messiah himself that you might want to read:

Barack Obama: The Empire’s New Clothes

http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=879&Itemid=1

Glen Ford: The Obama ‘08 Phenomenon: What Have We Learned?

http://www.creative-i.info/?p=1960

http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=873&Itemid=1

Larry Pinkney: “An Obama Presidency: More of the Same - Only Worse (Part 1)

http://www.creative-i.info/?p=1938

http://www.blackcommentator.com/297/297_kir_obama_presidency_pt1_printer_friendly.html

Ishmael Reed: Morning in Obamerica: Change, Change, Change?

http://www.creative-i.info/?p=1982

Gaither Stewart: A Day Of Rejoicing For The Empire

http://www.creative-i.info/?p=2008

Chris Floyd: The Election of Barack Obama

http://www.creative-i.info/?p=1941

William Bowles: Obama and the Left’s Dilemma

http://www.creative-i.info/?p=1912

Barack Obama — a wolf in sheep’s clothing or just the shepherd?

http://www.creative-i.info/?p=2116

Establishment Messiah

http://www.takimag.com/site/print/2292/

Torture – Yes We Can?
Obama and the national security question: the sellout accelerates

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13762

The Audacity of Hype: Dissent in the Age of Obama

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13754

Forget the Honeymoon
Getting down to bizness with Obama

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13728

Making Excuses for Obama
The mythology of good intentions

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13698

Obama's Council on Foreign Relations Crew

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10867

Obama Mania

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10876

Obama advisers discuss preparations for war on Iran

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/nov2008/iran-n06.shtml

Hopes and illusions dominate European reaction to Obama victory

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/nov2008/euro-n06.shtml

Obama reassures big business on economic policy

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/nov2008/obam-n08.shtml

A closer look at Obama’s transition team

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/nov2008/tran-n07.shtml

Obama transition points to more war and repression

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/nov2008/pers-n14.shtml

Obama administration begins to take shape

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/nov2008/obam-n07.shtml

Barack Obama: Faithful Tool of U.S. Imperialism and Empire

http://www.blackcommentator.com/271/271_kir_obama_tool_us_imperialism_printer_friendly.html

Barack Obama and the Crisis of U.S. Imperialism

http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/breaking-down-understanding-our-enemies/28536-barack-obama-crisis-u-s-imperialism.html

Andrew Sullivan on Obama: The “Best Face” For Imperialism

http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/open-forum/27702-andrew-sullivan-obama-best-face-imperialism.html

http://rwor.org/a/118/obama-en.html

Barack Obama: Bamboozling Amerikkka

http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/open-forum/27167-barack-obama-bamboozling-amerikkka.html

New Video: Barack Obama - White Power in Black Face!

http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/open-forum/27476-new-video-barack-obama-white-power-black-face.html

Minimal Differences Between Clinton, Obama

http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=518&Itemid=1

Barack Obama and the "End" of Racism

http://the-fourth-world.blogspot.com/2008/02/barack-obama-and-end-of-racism.html

Obama Shocks Arab World, Touts Imperialist Credentials

http://raimd.wordpress.com/2008/06/12/obama-shocks-arabs-touts-imperialist-creditials/

Debriefing on the Obama Presidential Victory -

http://raimd.wordpress.com/2008/11/09/debriefing-on-the-obama-presidential-victory/#comment-2000

Obama, “Black” Messiah for White Amerika

http://raimd.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/obama-%e2%80%9cblack%e2%80%9d-messiah-for-white-amerika/

Obama: A New Day for Black People... Or a New Face on the Same Set-up?

http://rwor.org/a/123/obama-en.html

Obama, the Courts, and Black People:
A Tale of Two Decisions

http://rwor.org/a/136/CD_on_obama-en.html

Why Did Obama Support FISA and Telecom Immunity?

http://rwor.org/a/136/obama_FISA-en.html

Obama’s Pick for Chief of Staff

http://rwor.org/a/147/emanuel-en.html

Obama picks pro-Israel hardliner for top post

http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/180372

Mumia Abu Jamal -Is Obama's Victory Ours..Real Change?!

http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/180282

Obama's Foreign Policy: No Sharp Break From Bush

http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/180787

The men behind Barack Obama part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MouUJNG8f2k

The men behind Barack Obama part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-KJCMWcoms&feature=related

"Obama: the Postmodern Coup"

http://books.google.com/books?id=3uPYo0pS9oIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:Webster+inauthor:Griffin+inauthor:Tarpley

Obama, the first-rate Republican

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/alexander-cockburn-obama-the-firstrate-republican-973691.html

Obama to Move Into the White House: Do Changes Await the US Geopolitics?

http://en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=1724

Obama the Interventionist

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042702027_pf.html

Obama: The Star de Jure

http://www.counterpunch.org/volatile08282008.html

Obama Nation: Sixteen Reasons*

http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/19291

Oh Yeaahh!

Comments

Hide the following 11 comments

Now who's being hysterical?

17.11.2008 12:02

Comparing Obama to the cult leader behind the Jonestown massacre, who famously got his followers to drink the Kool Aid, seems just as hysterical a response as those who've gushed positively about him. Get a grip.

Norville B

isn't the whole 'kool aid' thing a bit of a race joke....?

17.11.2008 13:05

correct me if i'm wrong but isn't the drinking of Kool Aid some kind of low level crack about black american stereotypes (like watermelon and fried chicken)?

I may be talking absolute nonsense, but i'm pretty sure i've seen this online or in something like Family Guy or South Park. If so, bit of an odd thing to say.

bill stickers

Perhaps you could put this research into an article

17.11.2008 13:36

Starting your post with a bible quote almost put me off reading any further but your post is just a list of links. It would be better if you were to write a referenced article yourself from what you've learned.

Ruby

Kool Aid

17.11.2008 13:49

Bill Stickers -

The mention of "Kool Aid" is a reference to the Jonestown incident, in which cult members drank Kool Aid spiked with cyanide on the command of Jim Jones. (Or more accurately, some did; many of those who refused were murdered.)

"Drinking the Kool Aid" is a fairly common shorthand for having an undue level of devotion to a particular leader, movement or group.

rasputin

Nah

17.11.2008 13:50

It's not a race issue. It's just a lazy cliche.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kool-Aid#.22Drinking_the_Kool-Aid.22

But it's like the senator who compared Obama to Hitler - those kinds of comparisons make those who use them look moronic.

I'm just getting bored with posts lecturing British readers on what we should think about Obama. I'm not going to start posting on Indymedia Kansas telling them what they should think about David Cameron.

Norville B

@Norville B

17.11.2008 14:09

> I'm just getting bored with posts lecturing British readers
> on what we should think about Obama. I'm not going to
> start posting on Indymedia Kansas telling them what they
> should think about David Cameron.

This comparison does not stand up to scrutiny. This is so obvious it almost doesn't need saying: the election to British Prime Ministerial office of a Conservative party leader does not nearly have the same worldwide impact as the election of an American President. Maybe the "kool aid" thing is too slang-based for your tastes, but the article doesn't seem to me to be "lecturing". I've not read the links but my view is that it is saying - "don't start thinking that America is embarking on a new voyage based on progressive values", and quite right too.

Jon

Media Lens

17.11.2008 16:18

The current Media Lens Media Alert uses reporting of the election of their new president (and our new emperor) to illustrate the Chomsky Herman theory of Media Control in a simple and entertaining way.

Better than President Palin.
Homepage: http://www.medialens.org/alerts/08/0811xx_obama_wiping_the.php

He's not the Messiah...

17.11.2008 16:52

Slang doesn't bother me. Innappropriate cliches do.

My point about Cameron was slightly tongue in cheek. But, given the UK's role in US foreign policy - particularly over Iraq - some in the US might like to know who's going to be Prime Minister here next year.

That might at least tell them something they don't know.

Not like the dozenth posting on UK Indymedia saying that we should stop being so excited about Obama. Great - none of us here voted for the guy. And as I keep pointing out, the Democrats are (from a global political perspective) to the right of the Tory party and well to the right of Labour. We're not gushing about them so why the assumption, in all these postings, that we're gushing about Obama too and that we need to be let in on some amazing secret?

(I'm still glad that Obama beat McCain for the sake of those in the US and the rest of the world, particularly Iran. Doesn't make him perfect - but I've yet to see a convincing argument that McCain would have been better.)

Norville B

"Drinking the Kool-Aid" isn't meant to be taken literally

17.11.2008 23:28

"Drinking the Kool-Aid" isn't meant to be taken literally. This is probably a cultural misunderstanding. In the US, it is a fairly common expression for someone who is too uncritically admiring of someone, as a previous poster said. It doesn't have racist connotations, and it isn't meant to imply the admired person would literally kill people.

It's a commentary on the *followers* - that they are too fawning - not a commentary on the leader.

Just as a "Grammar Nazi" is someone who is over-pedantic about grammar and not a grammar expert who follows Hitler's National Socialist ideology and would gas millions over a misplaced apostrophe.

anon

Re: He's not the Messiah...

18.11.2008 13:56

> We're not gushing about them so why the assumption, in all these
> postings, that we're gushing about Obama too and that we need to
> be let in on some amazing secret?

I agree with this in part - most people here are not going crazy over Obama. But analyses as to why he shouldn't be seen as a progressive hero are still interesting, even to those of us familiar with some of the arguments. We should bear in mind too - again this is probably obvious - that to working-class African Americans crying with joy at the election of a "progressive" man of colour - our position is a loony radical one subscribed to by a handful of erratic outcasts. Part of the analysis presented on Indymedia and similar outlets should get us *discussing* how to cut through the US/UK propaganda to show that America still hates the poor more than it hates black people. Which, needless to say, takes some doing.

Jon

Cheers

18.11.2008 16:24

Thanks Jon - you make a very good point.

Guess I'm reacting more to the knee-jerk nature of some of the rambling essays linked to above. Like the one stating as fact that Obama is "the same, but worse". Oh, right. Because, obviously, that's the first thing I thought yesterday when he promised to shut Guantanamo.

Norville B