Editorial OBAMIASMA in the 15 December 2008 issue of LAW ANIMATED WORLD

OBAMIASMA

Barack Hussein Obama, half-black, half-white, half-African, some Asian, purportedly born in Hawai, so American – whether natural born or naturalized or native citizen, whether irregularly practiced Islam in his childhood or not but baptized by the Black ‘Trinity United Church of Christ’ and recognized the ‘power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change’, certainly deserves all the praise and our hearty congratulations to this great Afro-American who believes and inspires that ‘Change Can Happen’. Like Castro we do not call into question his ‘great intelligence, his debating skills or his work ethic’ but certainly suspect the course of his claims about a ‘seamless transition’ as does Bill Van Auken in World Socialist Website and also question his ‘pragmatism’ which Christopher Hayes of The Nation decries saying: “…privileging pragmatism over ideology … misses the point… Indeed, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, "pragmatists" of all stripes … lined up to offer tips and strategies on how best to implement a practical and effective torture regime; but ideologues said no torture, no exceptions. Same goes for the Iraq War, which many "pragmatic" lawmakers – Hillary Clinton, Arlen Specter – voted for and which ideologues across the political spectrum, from Ron Paul to Bernie Sanders, opposed. Of course, by any reckoning, the war didn't work. That is, it failed to be a practical, non-ideological improvement to the nation's security. Principle is often pragmatism's guardian. Particularly at times of crisis, when a polity succumbs to collective madness or delusion, it is only the obstinate ideologues who refuse to go along. Expediency may be a virtue in virtuous times, but it's a vice in vicious ones.” We could not have put it better, and hope the US President-elect comes out of this miasma and with ‘audacity of hope’ works for a novel, benign, humane change not only in the American internal affairs but also external policies, contributing for peace, prosperity and sustainable development of all countries, big or small §§§