The article closes with a question:

“So what does he want to be in the history books for? I don’t quite know the answer to that yet.”

The answer is that he wanted to “be” president. That was his goal, and he accomplished it. Looks great on the resume.

What did he want to “be” president for? That’s it. Just to “be” president. To be part of the big club. That’s all.

What the hell is Barack Obama’s presidency for?

by Gary Younge, The Guardian, Sunday 23 February 2014

If there was a plot, he’s lost it. If there was a point, few can remember it. If he had a big idea, he shrank it. If there’s a moral compass powerful enough to guide such contradictions to more consistent waters, it is in urgent need of being reset.

[…snip…]

it was Obama who set himself the task of becoming a transformational political figure in the mould of Ronald Reagan or JFK. “I think we are in one of those fundamentally different times right now where people think that things, the way they are going, just aren’t working,” he said. It was he who donned the mantles of “hope” and “change”.

It was obvious what his election was for. First, preventing the alternative: presidential candidates in the grip of a deeply dysfunctional and reactionary party. His arrival marked a respite from eight years of international isolation, military excess and economic collapse. He stood against fear, exclusion and greed – and won. Second, it helped cohere and mobilise a new progressive coalition that is transforming the electoral landscape. Finally, it proved that despite the country’s recent history Americans could elect a black man to its highest office.

So his ascent to power had meaning. It’s his presence in power that lacks purpose. The gap between rich and poor and black and white has grown while he’s been in the White House, the prospects for immigration reform remain remote, bankers made away with the loot, and Guantánamo’s still open. It’s true there’s a limit to what a president can do about much of this and that Republican intransigence has not helped. But that makes the original question more salient not less: if he can’t reunite a divided political culture, which was one of his key pledges, and his powers are that limited, then what is the point of his presidency?

[…snip…]

“If you’re going to be president, then I guess you obviously want to be in the history books,” said Susan Aylward, a frustrated Obama supporter in Akron, Ohio, shortly before the last election. “So what does he want to be in the history books for? I don’t quite know the answer to that yet.” Sadly, it seems, neither does he.

more, or less…

I used to think that he’s intelligent enough that he couldn’t possibly be stupid enough to actually believe that anyone else could possibly be stupid enough to think he makes any sense.

And now?

Well…. now I think he just doesn’t give a flying fuck what anyone thinks of him lying through his teeth with a big shit eating grin.

And he’s not overly concerned that no one will ever vote for him again.

Glen Ford: U.S. Imperialism Hopping on Just One Leg

Glen Ford of Black Agenda Reports speaks at Trinity College (Hartford) March 2013….

Although Ford, whose program airs on the Progressive Radio Network, was slated to speak about “Black Politics, Obama and Foreign Policy,” President Barack Obama was largely a footnote at the end of his talk. Instead, he spoke mostly about European and American imperialism and exploitation of what used to be called Third World Countries but today are more commonly described as developing nations.

[…]

About two-thirds of the way through his lecture, Ford got around to discussing Obama; he was no more complimentary of his policies than of his predecessors. Ford described Obama’s foreign policy as “insidious,” and alleged that the administration doesn’t view war as the last resort but as a “good thing to do” if it’s perceived to be in the country’s best interest. And he said Obama has waged war in the name of “humanitarianism.”

Listen to the first two minutes, and you may find that want to listen to the full hour.

Imagine if you will a life with no pain, all your physical needs taken care of, never hungry or cold, all your wants provided for, and no thinking involved.

Because you have no cerebral cortex to feel pain or hunger or cold signals with or to think with.

Cramped cages. Extreme temperatures. Filthy surroundings. No doubt about it: Our industrial food system treats animal welfare as an afterthought. As a commentary on today’s “modern” farming, a London architecture student has created a thought-provoking design for a chicken farm that strips the birds of their mobility-and their brains.

Royal College of Art student André Ford created the installation, dubbed The Centre for Unconscious Farming. It’s a pretty grim affair, made of a massive steel frame that would contain up to 1,000 birds. In it the chickens are completely immobilized-their feet are removed (to save space), and the birds receive food, water and oxygen through an intricate network of tubes. In order to eliminate the suffering that chickens would face under such conditions, Ford proposes that the birds’ cerebral cortex be removed, leaving the brain stem (and key homeostatic functions) intact. The chickens would continue to grow, but would basically spend their lives in a coma.

More:  Are Brainless Chickens the Solution to Animal Cruelty?

Live at the Fillmore East – New Years Eve 1969 going into 1970

Quicksilver Messenger Service

43 years ago, in 1970, shortly after Kent State…

You poisoned my sweet water.

You cut down my green trees.

The food you fed my children

Was the cause of their disease.

My world is slowly fallin’ down

And the airs not good to breathe.

And those of us who care enough,

We have to do something…….

(Chorus)

Oh…….oh What you gonna do about me?

Oh…….oh What you gonna do about me?

Your newspapers,

They just put you on

They never tell you

The whole story

They just put your

Young ideas down

I was wonderin’ could this be the end

Of your pride and glory?

(Chorus)

I work in your factory

I study in your schools

I fill your penitentiaries

And your military too!

And I feel the future trembling

As the word is passed around

If you stand up for what you do believe

Be prepared to be shot down

(Chorus)

And I feel like a stranger

In the land where I was born

And I live like an outlaw

An’ I’m always on the run……..

And I’m always getting busted

And I got to take a stand……..

I believe the revolution

Must be mighty close at hand……..

(Chorus)

I smoke marijuana

But I cant get behind your wars

And most of what I do believe

Is against most of your laws

I’m a fugitive from injustice

But I’m goin’ to be free

Cause your rules and regulations

They don’t do the thing for me

(Chorus)

And I feel like a stranger

In the land where I was born

And I live just like an outlaw

An’ I’m always on the run

And though you may be stronger now, my time will come around.

You keep adding to my numbers, and you shoot my people down.

Ryan Gallagher reports on surveillance, national security and privacy for Slate Magazine:

By providing a large trove of firsthand documents, Snowden changed the game completely. Anyone positing the existence of the dragnet spying programs – or trying to challenge them in court – could no longer be accused of speculating hypothetically or be dismissed as a paranoid lunatic.

[…snip…]

But the backlash is in many ways just starting to gather momentum. Six months on from the first Snowden scoop, only now are we beginning to see the first substantive signs of emerging legal and policy shifts. Moreover, despite the crude attempts of some government officials to suppress the reporting on the secret files, important new stories are going to continue flowing. And I say that with a high degree of certainty because, in recent weeks, I have had a chance to review the cache of leaked documents while working on investigations with the former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, whom Snowden entrusted with the material earlier this year.

So expect more revelations – and with them more court rulings, committee hearings, controversies, and reforms.

This has certainly been the Year of Snowden, but you can bet that the whistleblower is going to own a significant chunk of 2014, too.

— Snowden revelations only the beginning, The Age, December 30, 2013