Web Letters: In Praise of a Rocky Transition

Naomi Klein's article is a reminder that electing Obama was the easy part. The really hard work for progressive activists begins today, and again tomorrow, and again every day thereafter.

We must stay vigilant, take names, kick butt, and never give up. Let's redouble our efforts.

It is alarming that Obama is appointing so many big-business-as-usual politicians, especially Rahm Emanuel and Larry Summers. Also, the military- industrial complex, Big Oil, Big Insurance, Big Pharma--the list goes on--and their lobbyists have not left town. Time will tell if Obama has the will to withstand their toxic influence.

The important question is whether "our guys" in Congress--the "good guys"--will tenaciously fight for legislation that is truly transforming and progressive. True progressive transformation of America must be driven from the grassroots up, not from the top down by business-as-usual career politicians.

We thus trust our Democratic leaders at our peril. We must keep our friends close, our enemy closer and our Democratic representatives closest.

James A. Swanson

www.bushleagueofnations.com
Los Altos, CA

Borderline"? Hell, it is out-and-out theft of public funds.

And this is hardly the first time the Bush administration had directed public funds to private individuals assets without proper protections, which would be deemed criminal negligence or embezzlement if a private accountant or manager did it. Remember no-bid contracts in Iraq? What do you think that was?

This is why many of us feel Bush still needs to be impeached, even if it happens on the last day of his presidency. He needs to be tried, and he can't exert executive privilege as a defense if he is impeached. Even if an impeachment got him out of office just thirty days early, it would be thirty days he can't continue to do criminal things like raid the treasury or other illegal activity.

The Congressional elections are now over, so Pelosi no longer has the excuse that she doesn't want to appear to be vindictive before the election. She should immediately begin impeachment hearing so we can have full investigations without executive privilege defenses of the greatest criminal transfer of public funds that has ever occurred in history.

The $2.5 trillion in the bailout between the Fed and the Treasury is a flat out last minute emptying of public treasury into connected private hands through stock bolstering that will weaken the country more than ten terrorist's bombs to our infrastructure could do.

Even Republicans (more than Democrats it seems) are figuring out that Bush has never cared about the public good and is simply Raiding public funds.

Come on, Pelosi! No one in their right mind can still honestly be blind to what is going on. Either you are in on it or you are too old and incompetent to hold the leadership position. It's just that simple.

George Watson

Knoxville, TN

I don't want to get ahead of myself and I do not want to speculate as to what a President Obama is going to do about all this, transition and the handling of the economic crisis, but I do have to say a so-called "smooth transition" does worry me. Why would a smooth transition worry me? Well, because, like stated in the article, to me that means not much is going to change, and since the majority of Americans who did vote for Obama voted him in for Change, I think that Change is expected. To bring on Clintonites, to me isn't change. To keep the same old or at the least similar people on board means that things aren't going to be different, and my idea of change, means new, means different. I would rather have a bumpy start with a crew of new people that will lead to some smooth roads in the future, rather than start out smooth and eventually hit the same bumpy road we are riding in the present. That to me was the problem with Obama's whole election, the idea to get rid of the same old and failing policies of W. and the Republicans, the voters didn't need to demand much of the Democrat, they just offered him their vote on a promise, but without anything to hold him to these promises. Now, I am willing to give Mr. Obama the chance to succeed and bring about change and I do think he will in some regards, but I feel he might let himself get pushed into a corner over the bigger and more important issues, like the economy and the wars. Once in the corner will the then-president Obama cower to the pressures of the status quo government or will he fight harder with his back against the wall, and bring about that change he has been promising all this time? That question remains to be answered, and we will have to wait to find out what does happen.

kristofeR PASSAGGIO

enemyartistkristofer.blogspot.com
North Hollywood, CA

Is it possible that Paulson and the secrtive private owners of the Fed are giving us another example of M. Klein's shock doctrine?

Factions of the neoconservative movement have been salivating about "starving the beast" for decades; what better way to kill off the government than by burdening it with crushing, unpayable debt? After all, it worked against the former USSR.

Could this be what's going on behind the scenes with the fast-failing bailout?

Kim Hutchinson

Harrow, Ontario, Canada