“From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream, 1963.

Even though I was only 12 or 13 years old when Martin Luther King uttered those famous words, his message still reverberates as the gold standard of those who are being oppressed, black, Brown, white, red or yellow. His message encompassed the plight of an America that was under siege, and through his courageous efforts a new United States began emerging, one that sought to guarantee that:

Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: / we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream, 1963.

Then, on January 20, 2009, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of The United States:

The inauguration, which set a record attendance for any event held in Washington, D.C., marked the commencement of the four-year term of Barack Obama as President and Joseph R. Biden as Vice President. Based on the combined attendance numbers, television viewership and Internet traffic, it was among the most observed events ever by the global audience.

“A New Birth of Freedom”, a phrase from the Gettysburg Address, served as the inaugural theme to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth year of Abraham Lincoln. In his speeches to the crowds, Obama referred to ideals expressed by Lincoln about renewal, continuity and national unity. Obama mentioned these ideals in his speech to stress the need for shared sacrifice and a new sense of responsibility to answer America’s challenges at home and abroad. (my emphasis) LINK

After eight years of the oppressive Bush Regime, America and the global community rejoiced. The disaster wrought upon the United State by President Bush and his cabal of Neo-cons was over. Millions of us believed that President Bush and his co-conspirators would be tried and convicted for their crimes against humanity, lying to Congress as well as violating the Geneva Convention – which the United States is a signatory. The Black community rejoiced, proud that finally, Martin Luther King’s dream had come true – our nation had overcome its racism and bigotry, evidenced by the fact that a Black man had been elected to the presidency – proof in itself that we had finally overcome our past and now – “Change that we could believe in” would be the new direction for a nation that had been beleaguered by a right-wing agenda and overt racism and bigotry. Free at last, the tyrant in the White House had been replaced…

After more than two years in the White House,  President Obama’s Administration has purged itself of any left-leaning, Progressive or Liberal trappings and now has solidified itself as “a willful player in an epic drama of faux-politics, an operative for the money power, whose job is to neutralize the left with fear and distraction and then to pivot rightward and deliver a conservative result:

Obama is no progressive

The debt deal will make things clear. The President is not a progressive – he is not what Americans still call a “liberal.” He is a willful player in an epic drama of faux-politics, an operative for the money power, whose job is to neutralize the left with fear and distraction and then to pivot rightward and deliver a conservative result.

What Barack Obama got from the debt deal was exactly what his sponsors have wanted: a long-term lock-in of domestic spending cuts, and a path toward severe cuts in the core New Deal and Great Society insurance programs – Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And, of course, no tax increases at all.

To see the arc of political strategy, recall that from the beginning Obama handed economic policy to retainers recruited from the stables of Robert Rubin. From the beginning, he touted “fiscal responsibility” and played up the (economically non-existent) “problem” of the budget deficit. From the beginning his team sabotaged economic recovery with optimistic forecasts and inadequate programs – in the clear interest of protecting the banking system from reform.

As the presidency moved along, false claims of economic recovery supported a transition toward obsessive focus on debt and deficits, validated by a federal commission and constantly reinforced by a Washington propaganda chorus funded by Peter G. Peterson, for many decades a billionaire campaigner against Social Security and Medicare.

Debt ceiling a pseudo-crisis

But it wasn’t enough. Even with the Republican victory in the 2010 mid-terms there wasn’t the political will-power simply to pass the cuts and make them stick.  For it wasn’t sufficient just to pass them: politicians need cover when they do ugly things.

They need an excuse, something that will offer protection from the anger of the victims, or more precisely from other politicians who might exploit that anger. In the well-practiced manner of organized crime, blood needs to be on everyone’s hands.  That way, no one can defect; no one can turn states’ evidence and safely get away with blaming the others. MUCH MORE

This is a MUST READ article by AlterNet that exposes Obama for what he really is – a stealth Republican Neo-conservative who represents Corporate America – not the people!

What has President Obama accomplished for the Black Community in America? Other than rhetoric and verbally using Martin Luther King’s visions and legacy for political talking points, the black community is still plunging further into economic despair – and President Obama has no need to “produce” for those whom helped him to get elected – which I will explain further down in this post. Obama has been portrayed as a “weak negotiator” and his failures have been blamed on the Koch Brother’s drones that we refer to as the Tea Party, and the latter has certainly been a stumbling block – but the idea that Obama is a weak negotiator is patently false! Barack Obama arose in Chicago politics where it’s dog eat dog, and only the most crafty (and vicious) political infighters have succeeded in this cesspool of corruption and political chicanery. Chicago and the State of Illinois is where Barack Obama became a rising star – and he didn’t obtain his political acumen by being “weak;” the truth is that Obama is extremely experienced in winning political battles and while he may seem to have lost his touch – I believe that it’s nothing more than political cover while he capitulates to the GOP in subservience to his Corporate Masters. Obama has demonstrated that his loyalty is to Corporate America, not those whom helped him attain the Presidency:

Cornel West: Obama ‘cussed me out’ for attacking his policies

By David Edwards
Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 — 3:55 pm

Dr. Cornel West is shedding some light on why he has been so tough on President Barack Obama recently.

In an interview published by TruthDig Monday, West told Chris Hedges that he felt snubbed by the president after doing 65 events during the 2008 campaign.

“I used to call my dear brother [Obama] every two weeks,” he explained. “I said a prayer on the phone for him, especially before a debate. And I never got a call back.”

“I said, wow, this is kind of strange. He doesn’t have time, even two seconds, to say thank you or I’m glad you’re pulling for me and praying for me, but he’s calling these other people. I said, this is very interesting. And then as it turns out with the inauguration I couldn’t get a ticket with my mother and my brother. I said this is very strange. We drive into the hotel and the guy who picks up my bags from the hotel has a ticket to the inauguration. My mom says, ‘That’s something that this dear brother can get a ticket and you can’t get one, honey, all the work you did for him from Iowa.’”

But the Princeton professor insisted that the betrayal that occurred on an ideological level was even more disturbing.

“[I]t became very clear when I looked at the neoliberal economic team. The first announcement of Summers and Geithner I went ballistic. I said, ‘Oh, my God, I have really been misled at a very deep level,’” West lamented. “I figured, OK, given the structure of constraints of the capitalist democratic procedure that’s probably the best he could do. But at least he would have some voices concerned about working people, dealing with issues of jobs and downsizing and banks, some semblance of democratic accountability for Wall Street oligarchs and corporate plutocrats who are just running a muck. I was completely wrong.” MUCH MORE

Cornel West was correct; President Obama’s closest advisers are a “who’s who” of Corporate America, and some of those appointments are from the very corporations that have outsourced American jobs and were the cause, not the solution, to America’s economic crisis. His most recent appointment is a slap in the face to agriculture throughout the global community when Michael Taylor was “appointed senior adviser to the commissioner of the FDA.”

The person who may be responsible for more food-related illness and death than anyone in history has just been made the US food safety czar. This is no joke.  READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Unfortunately, even in the Black Community there is a significant division of opinion, and there are apologists for President Obama that because of his position as our first Black President, are refusing to accept reality and admit that they have been sold down the river with the rest of the nation which includes what’s left of the rapidly shrinking Middle-Class, our Seniors, and the Disabled and Poor. The facts are there for them to acknowledge, but rather than condemn our nation’s fist Black President, it is my opinion that those who still stand up for Barack Obama do so for racial pride and/or financial/political interests – not his job performance, which when closely evaluated, demonstrates that he doesn’t give a rat’s ass for anyone that doesn’t make above a six figure income. The below video from msnbc TV exemplifies that division:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I admire those whom speak truth to power, which is the only way that we can educate and attempt to bring about change in a nation that is dominated by a corrupt Mainstream News Media who are and have been the Enablers of Fascism for over twenty years. Each merger within the MSM brings us closer to a China/Soviet style of media that only parrots the corporate/Elitist talking points that have been put forward by the treasonous Koch Brothers - and that old adage of “Tell a lie often enough and it becomes truth” is a reality that has been demonstrated time and time again by tyrants throughout history that have manipulated their citizens by and through religion, racism, or a false sense of nationalism, and when that doesn’t work, brute force.  It’s extremely hard to ascertain what is truth versus propaganda when two opposing ideologues battle it out as demonstrated in the above video, and hopefully, this video from ABC’s Nightline will help to sort out  issues which the Reverend Al Sharpton refused to allow Cornel West to articulate, and admittedly, were not a matter of discussion when said interview took place – but you can believe that Al Sharpton would still stand-up as an Obama apologist even when it’s obvious that our President sold out the majority of the nation, including the Black Community,  in regard the manufactured Debt Ceiling Crisis:

Tavis Smiley and Cornel West on Obama’s Debt-Ceiling Deal: Republicans ‘Cleaned His Clock’

By LAUREN EFFRON (@LEffron831)

Aug. 10, 2011

PBS talk-show/radio host Tavis Smiley and Princeton University professor Cornel West have made no secret of their disappointment in President Obama.

“I think too often [Obama] compromises, too often he capitulates. I think the Republicans know that. I think they laugh when he’s not around,” Smiley said today in an interview with ABC News’ Jake Tapper. “[The underclass] want him to fight for them and I think they’re tired of seeing the Republicans clean his clock.”

In a nationwide effort to raise awareness, Smiley and West kicked off a 16-city “Poverty Tour: a Call to Conscience,” a few days ago, which rolled into Washington, D.C., this week. Their goal, they said, is to “help the president” by highlighting issues such as the regression of the middle class and rampant unemployment. MUCH MORE

The noose is beginning to tighten around Obama’s neck as he faces opposition from his Democratic base, Liberal/Progressives,  Independent Voters, and true Conservative Republicans – versus the radicals that held Congress and the economy hostage:

Obama Faces Criticism From Liberals, Unions, Latinos

WASHINGTON — Liberals argue that he caved on the debt ceiling. Unions are upset over his handling of unemployment and labor issues. Hispanics brought the immigration debate directly to his campaign doorstep.

President Barack Obama’s summer of discontent has been marked by rumblings within his Democratic political base over his willingness to fight congressional Republicans and his approach to fixing the economy.

Liberals disappointed with Obama for compromising with the GOP during the debt-ceiling showdown now are calling on him to hold firm against Republicans this fall. They want him to push a bold jobs agenda while drawing a strong line on taxes and protecting Medicare and Social Security.

In recent weeks, the gripes have become so loud that the president himself acknowledged them during his Midwest bus tour this week.

“I’ve got a whole bunch of responsibilities, which means I have to make choices sometimes that are unattractive and I know will be bad for me politically and I know will get supporters of mine disappointed,” Obama said in Iowa. He claimed progress on the economy, health care and two wars. And, offering his backers a bit of tough love, he added: “Sometimes you’ve got to make choices in order to do what’s best for the country at that particular moment, and that’s what I’ve tried to do.” MORE

Obama has had some tough choices to make, and he has demonstrated to the nation as a whole that when he makes those choices, in almost each and every instance it has been “we the people” rather than the Elites or Corporate America whom have taken it on the chin, and our future at this juncture looks exceedingly bleak. The real kicker which is sad but true is that President Obama hasn’t made a single concession for the Black Community because he doesn’t have to; even though he is losing some support within the community, the overall consensus is that he will still retain approximately 80% of the vote even if there is a cohesive rebellion among the Black Caucus on Capitol Hill and activists such as those quoted in this Op-Ed continue to publicly challenge President Obama’s policies and refusal to do anything meaningful as it relates to the extremely high unemployment rates which are concentrated within the Black suburban Community.

The same doesn’t hold true within the Hispanic Community, and they have actively been protesting the President’s policy on illegal immigration, which under this Presidency has deported far more illegal’s than President (Sic) George W. Bush. The Hispanic Community, which is far more cohesive as a voting bloc than the Black Community, has taken a stand – do something that will help us or don’t look for our vote in 2012, and they mean business! If Barack Obama has any hope of winning the 2012 Presidential Election he cannot lose the Hispanic vote when he is in danger of losing the Liberal/Progressive/Independent votes as well as a lower percentage of the Black vote. That said, at least 80% of the Black vote is almost a certainty, so in order to secure the Hispanic vote, President Obama has made policy changes in regard deportations as follows:

Obama’s deportation policy: Smart politics?

By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY

President Obama’s new policy on deporting illegal immigrants won’t just help those immigrants without criminal records. It could help Obama as well.

The policy, announced by the Department of Homeland Security Thursday, places priority on deporting criminal aliens and other priority cases. Those who arrived in the United States as children, received college educations or served in the military will be less likely to get deported.

The decision is sure to be reviewed by Congress. In particular, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, argues the administration is overstepping its authority by picking and choosing among those who entered the country illegally.

But one thing seems clear: The move will help Obama among Hispanics, many of whom have long argued that he was being unnecessarily tough on deportation policy.

Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, which supports a path to legalize some of the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country, told USA TODAY’s Alan Gomez that Thursday’s announcement will help Obama lock down the ever-growing Hispanic electorate in the 2012 election. (my emphasis)  MUCH MORE

To set the record straight, I do support the Dream Act as long as it is enacted in Congress, but also am an avowed Constitutionalist. I believe in the rule of law, and I believe that it should be applied equally and without exception.  We have tens of thousands of American citizens that are incarcerated for marijuana offenses, many of whom were caught with felony amounts of pot that did not include violence or other crimes, and they are rotting in State and Federal prisons throughout the nation. Is smoking and possessing marijuana a worse crime than illegally entering the United States?  In several states, even though debtors’ prisons were outlawed in the 19th Century, six states are now actively incarcerating citizens solely because they could not pay a debt - and other states are also leaning in that direction.  Is the failure to pay a debt a worse offense than illegally entering the country? I could list several more examples of unequal protection of the law, probably volumes, but I’m sure that you get the point. If there is a law or statute that offends the majority of the body politic, it is the moral imperative and duty of Congress and the Presidency to enact legislation that will address those issues. We are either a nation of laws or we aren’t – and in this writer’s opinion, the law is only equal for the rich and famous, or in the alternative, when it’s a political necessity to appease a huge voting bloc that has in effect drawn a line in the sand and again, made President Obama capitulate on a policy decision that was overturned only because he is seeking reelection. Without a doubt or question, Obama’s decision to reverse course on his deportation policy is nothing more than political whoring, and if he wasn’t seeking reelection you can believe there would be no policy changes whatsoever, and the same is true for his Jobs Program, otherwise he would have paid more attention to the jobs market rather than being concerned with loaning more than a trillion dollars to the criminals that wrought destruction upon our way of life and economy.

Martin Luther King did have a dream, and the dream and legacy of one of our greatest political/social activists resulted in his death because of racism and bigotry. We are now facing the death of democracy because our first Black President, even though he is aware that our nation is succumbing to fascism, remains beholden to money and power rather than the people and Constitution that he swore to uphold and protect. One thing is certain; the entire United States could learn from the Hispanic Community. United we stand, Divided we fall.

Sharpton’s Racket By Harry Siegel 17 Aug 2011 [Al Sharpton's] decision [in 2001] not to back Democrat Mark Green after he beat out Sharpton’s then-ally Fernando Ferrer in a runoff for the party’s nod was crucial to Michael Bloomberg’s surprise win. Sharpton has kept a low profile during the Bloomberg years (a non-aggression pact he now seems to have also reached with Obama) in exchange for public appearances with the mayor and cash funneled through former schools chancellor Joel Klein… Much of his leverage comes from his willingness to leave his party behind. Sharpton has a long history of undermining Democrats and backing Republicans, and his 2004 presidential run was coordinated by self-proclaimed “GOP hitman” Roger Stone, and aimed squarely at then–Democratic favorite Howard Dean… [Sharpton the Sociopath refuses to criticize Barack Obama. However, when Obama campaigned for the Democratic nomination, pretending to be a leftist, Sharpton worked against him 24/7. This dirt-bag insanely landed the 6PM gig on MSNBC (replacing the fired progressive, Cenk Uygur) where he can promote Obusha's Republican policies and make his GE bosses happy. --LRP]

The Hijacking of a Dream: Why We Need to Reclaim Dr. King’s Legacy