Nominated Elected @ MindSay 
Diverting the Discontented
by Andrew Austin
The political organizers of the conscious segments of the capitalist class realize that faith in the capitalist system is unraveling.
The Iraq War, the assault of civil liberties, the flagging economy, and the growth of corporate control over people's lives has weakened the legitimacy of the capitalist order.
The situation threatens to bring on a new crisis of democracy, one that another dose of authoritarianism and conservatism (which is what was called for in the 1970s) may not be able to fix.
Years ago, capitalist operatives realized that a new approach was needed, one that gives the discontented the illusion of a progressive pro-working class leader.
Enter Barack Obama.
Having this new leader be a black man with an Arabic name and transnational roots - African father, Indonesian childhood - is the perfect ruse to divert the discontented from rallying to a true progressive pro-working class leader such as Ralph Nader.
This is the purpose of the Barack Obama candidacy. This is why corporate money has poured into his campaign coffers in record volume. This is why the corporate media has been so dedicated to pushing his candidacy and leaving Nader almost completely out of the picture.
Corporate propagandists can use the image of a black president with an Arabic name and a transnational origin to repackage American Empire. It's a public relations spins on the US role in the global political-economic order.
It's a slick move domestically, as well, since they can use Obama to disarm and shut down the civil rights movement. This is why Obama has been presented to the public as the post-racial candidate.
If Obama should lose, which is very likely, capitalists have an acceptable standby: a Republican war hero named John McCain. Moreover, with a young dynamic conservative woman named Sarah Palin in the race, they have a chance to further the conservative counterrevolution in a new package.
No matter what happens, the capitalist win.
Now that the conventions are over, and Hillary is out of the picture, are we seeing the media pushing a new balance of coverage? The next few weeks should be revealing.
More importantly, while there may have been reasons for voting for Democrats in the past, it's now time to puncture the illusion of choice foisted on the people by the corporate two-party system and vote for a real progressive pro-working class representative.
I want to take a few minutes to share a few thoughts here if I might. I'm asking myself if America is ready for its first female President or its first ever Black President ? Hillary is not the first woman to ever run for the office, she has yet to be nominated. Neither is Obama the first Black to run as we all know. Jessee Jackson did it some years ago.
I want to step back in time as I often do here and reflect on two people.
Who was the world's first woman to run for US president?
Victoria Claflin Woodhull was the first woman to be nominated and campaign for the U.S. presidency in 1872. She was nominated by the Women's National Equal Rights Party; however, many people called it the free love ticket.
Not only was she the first woman to run for the presidency, but her and her sister, Tennessee, were the first female stockbrokers in 1870. During the time of her campaign for president she devoted an entire issue of Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly (November 2, 1872) to a rumored affair between Elizabeth Tilton and Reverend Henry Ward Beecher. With this issue, Victoria and Tennessee were both arrested by U.S. Federal Marshals for sending obscene material through the mail. The arrest prevented Victoria from being present during the 1872 presidential electtion.
What does this show me or us ? Women have been after that office for one hundres and thirty six years and have to yet to get there. Is America ready for Hillary now in the this 22 centry ?
Now here's something else important about Victoria Woodhull she choose a Black Man to run as her Vice President, a former slave and an American abolitonist. Who was this great Black Man, none other then Fredrick Douglass.
In 1872, Douglass became the first African American to receive a nomination for Vice President of the United States, having been nominated to be Victoria Woodhull's running mate on the Equal Rights Party ticket without his knowledge. During the campaign, he neither campaigned for the ticket nor even acknowledged that he had been nominated. Douglass spoke at many schools around the country in the Reconstruction era, including Bates College in Lewiston, Maine in 1873.
In 1872, Douglass became the first African American to receive a nomination for Vice President of the United States, having been nominated to be Victoria Woodhull's running mate on the Equal Rights Party ticket without his knowledge. During the campaign, he neither campaigned for the ticket nor even acknowledged that he had been nominated. Douglass spoke at many schools around the country in the Reconstruction era, including Bates College in Lewiston, Maine in 1873.
Douglas didn't become the Vice President of the United States then, what makes you think Obama will now ? Is America ready for such a Black elequent leader who's both young and smart ?
Just something to think about while we're in such an uproar about females for President and Blacks becomming a first. Lets see how it all shakes out.
What do you think ?