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A Spacealler Editorial
Obama: Endangered by a Platform of Peace
When the Clinton’s and the Republican’s slash and burn politics of destruction fail to block Barack Obama’s mystifying march to the White House, what recourse will his bitterest enemies resort to next? The answer to this question has haunted the Obamas since Barack first decided to run for office. In an effort to address this concern, they stepped up their security protocols hoping that it would keep him safe. Nevertheless, as his astounding success mounts, this concern is now shared by millions of his supporters -- especially those who remember the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.
In early 1968, Kennedy announced his own candidacy after
Eugene McCarthy nearly upset Johnson in the New Hampshire Primary. With Bobby Kennedy’s snowballing popularity, he defeated McCarthy in the critical California primary. Seconds after claiming victory, an assassin took his life. Questions pertaining to Sirhan B. Sirhan’s motives and whether he was part of a conspiracy are mired in controversy to this day. Nonetheless, the important issue of that time was war, the Vietnam War; and Robert Kennedy was against its continuation. His road to the White House seemed destined for success. Bobby’s unexpected death followed just two months after the great civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr., a vocal anti-war protestor was murdered, as well. So it is not strange that many Americans are wary of the times, the similarities, and the dangers associated with a popular candidate, like Barack Obama, who is running for the presidency on an anti-war ticket in a nation that is sullied by a history of violence and deception.More than just the color of Barack’s skin, which inflames the hardcore bigots throughout the nation, it is the faceless, nameless agents of the war machine -- the insidious power and influence of special interests, who may make up his most dangerous enemies. With the roster of corporate profiteers on the take in Iraq, their recent history of corruption, human rights violations, and fraud, is it not prudent for Obama and his supporters to be cautious?
The nature of politics changed after Dwight D. Eisenhower left office. On the seventeenth of January in the year 1961, his final words to the American people were a warning -- a warning that has been ignored for far too long. At great peril to thousands of lives, corporate profiteers began the dark road of manufacturing senseless wars to feed their machines with the fuel that makes them run. And, that fuel is what we have come to know as “war.” When racist attacks, mudslinging, and false character assassinations fail to obstruct Barack Obama’s pursuit of the oval office, will other solutions be attempted? Will it come down to vote tampering or assassination? Why are these the questions looming in the minds of so many Americans today? A closer look at former President Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell address should provide the answers.
“Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted...”
Dwight D. Eisenhower