(This article was written in December, 2008)

In a magnificent speech delivered to 100,000 of his supporters in Chicago’s Grant Park, shortly after his opponent Republican presidential candidate John McCain conceded defeat on election night, Barack Obama declared: "The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there."1. "It’s been a long time coming. But tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America."1.

       Indeed, the promise of change has been the constant theme ever since Obama started his presidential campaign more than 300-odd days ago in Iowa. With this simple and inspirational message, his formidable campaign organization, and his clever strategy of concentrating his efforts on the small states and the overlooked caucuses, Obama was able to out-maneuver the establishment candidate Hillary Clinton in the primary season, and capture the Democratic presidential nomination.

       Throughout the presidential campaign, Obama promised not only to ‘create a new kind of politics” but to “transform this country,’ “change the world,’ “create a Kingdom right here on earth.”2.

       The 2008 election was conducted amidst the deepening economic crisis in the United States. Taking advantage of the American people who desire to end the wars, were tired of George Bush’s neoliberal agenda and want to return to a more balanced economic development, Obama’s message of the promise of change resonated with a vast segment of the electorates, especially the young voters. Unfortunately, the hope for a drastic change of direction in foreign and security policy under the Obama administration was soon completely dashed with the first meeting of his "Senior Working Group on National Security", as the collection of his advisors gave the impression of certainty that Obama’s promise to ‘change the world’ will not be fulfilled. Indeed, foreign policy will be conducted in the same old fashion way.       

       One of Obama’s security advisors is Madeleine Albright, who was President Clinton’s Secretary of State. When asked, considering that half a million of Iraqi children died as a result of U.S. sanction, whether the price was worth it, she replied in no uncertain term: “I think this is a very hard choice, but the price—we think the price is worth it.”3.

       Albright, a strong advocate of “regime change” in Iraq while she was Secretary of State, upheld unilateralism when she was U.S. ambassador to UN. She was one of the architects of the war against Yugoslavia. The war against Yugoslavia resulted in 2,000 deaths of the Serbian civilian population, the wanton destruction and killing of Chinese with the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, as well as the untold suffering of the Kosovars.3. 

       Warren Christopher is also a member of Obama’s advisors. Warren Christopher, Madeleine Albright’s predecessor in the State Department, used the slogan of “humanitarian intervention” to justify the armed intervention of Somalia and Haiti with disastrous consequences to the people in these poor countries. In Iraq, he refused to abandon Senior Bush administration’s policy of sanctions against Iraq, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths in that country.3. Christopher also made a fool of himself when he went to China with his insistence that MFN must be linked with human rights.3.

      William Perry was also at the first meeting of Obam’s security advisors. Perry, former Clinton’s Defense Secretary, was famous for his efforts in the consolidation of the defense industry—the merger of Martin Marietta and Lockheed, which was Perry’s former employer. It turned out that Lockheed received heavy government subsidies to the tune of $855 million for the merger. Unfortunately for the American taxpayers, the consolidations of the industry actually increased the costs of weapons procurement, as there is no competitive bidding since industrial players are consolidated into fewer firms.4.

       Perry also served as undersecretary of defense in the Carter administration, where he promoted expensive weapons such as F-18, B-2 Stealth bomber which resulted in lucrative business for armed contractors.3.

       American armed contractors can be rest assured there will be no change in the defense department with the November 25, 2008 announcement of the retention of Robert Gates as defense secretary. Gates, who served in George W. Bush administration in the same portfolio, also served as CIA director and   National Security Council staff in the previous Republican administrations, was known for planning covert actions against Libyan leader Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and the Nicaragua Sandinista government, which resulted in the deaths of 58,000 in Nicaragua.3.

        If there is any wishful thinking on the part of Palestinians that the Obama administration will take an impartial attitude in their conflict with Israel, they will soon be in for a big disappointment with Obama’s selection of Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff.

          Emanuel, who is passionate about Israel, went there as civilian volunteer for the Israeli army during the first Gulf war. “Emanuel has a track record on Israel well to the right of George Bush. This includes signing a 2003 letter justifying Israel’s policy of political assassinations and amazingly criticizing Bush for not supporting Israel enough.”5. As the chief of staff for Obama, Emanuel will have considerable influence on policy matter in the White House and, with his demonstrated loyalty for Israel, would not be helpful to the Palestinian cause.  Obama’s pro Israeli credential was further confirmed with his speech to the Isaeli Lobby shortly after he won the Democratic nomination, when he declared “that in order to protect Israel he would use all the powers of the presidency to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon.”6.

          To be sure, there will be no change in American foreign policy with Obama as the president; one might hope there might be a change in U.S. domestic policy, especially in the time of economic crisis. Unfortunately, the appointments of Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as Treasury secretary and former Treasury secretary Lawrence Summers for National Economic Council director do not augured well for the direction of change. America will remain in status quo in the pursuit of neoliberal agendas, which is already responsible for pushing her into deep recession, even the second Great Depression.

       Geithner worked for Henry Kissinger, IMF and as Senior Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations.  He was the Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs under Lawrence Summers and Robert Rubin. Many regard him as the protégé of Robert Rubin, who is Obama’s economic advisor.

       Summers, former president of Harvard, served as the Chief Economist of the World Bank, then Deputy Secretary of U.S. Treasury under his mentor Robert Rubin. He was promoted to the position of  Secretary Treasury in the last years of the Clinton administration.

       Rubin, as Clinton’s Treasury Secretary, successfully lobbied the passing of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999, and thus opened the flood gate for financial deregulation. To further enhance Citigroup’s influence in Washington, Rubin was appointed as vice Chairman right after he left office. Unfortunately, for all its influence and financial power, Citigroup is in deep financial crisis, on the verge of bankruptcy, and asked for a bailout the same time as Ohama announced his economic team. 

       According to the November 25, 2008 New York Times report, Rubin was the one who pushed Citigroup into high-growth fixed-income structured finance business, as “former colleagues said Mr. Rubin also encouraged [ former Citibank CEO Charles] Prince to broaden the bank’s appetite for risk.”8. Despite his failure as financier, Mr. Rubin is still retained as Mr. Obama’s key economic advisor.
       Mr. Rubin’s protégé, Mr. Geithner, as president of New York Federal Reserve, was one of the key players in the recent financial bailout. “He doubled the size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet to more than $2 trillion, through the purchase of such risky assets as the commercial paper of near-bankrupt American auto companies.”8. But the key question remains why Lehman Brothers was allowed to go under, while Bear Stearns, AIG and Citigroup were rescued with even more costly bailout.

        The appointment of Mr. Summers raised another question of propriety. “As treasury secretary in 2000, Mr. Summers championed the law that deregulated derivatives, the financial instruments—a k a toxic assets—that have spread the financial losses from reckless lending around the globe.”9.

        Indeed, one of the major problems of the U.S. financial crisis has been the derivatives. Judging from Mr. Geithner and Mr. Paulson’s recent rescue efforts in Wall Street, it seems their main concern has been to safeguard the interests of large derivative dealer banks. While the shareholders and creditors of Lehman and other bankrupt financial institutions were sacrificed, the bondholders and derivative counterparts were protected. Thus, the hundreds of billions of dollars of the Federal bailout have been used to pay out at face value to credit default contracts, which were written by AIG. Unfortunately, such a gigantic bailout as the result of the explosion of the “financial weapons of mass destruction” in the derivative market did not directly help and may even  inflict further damage on the real economy. Moreover, the printing of excessive dollars will certainly lead to hyperinflation in America.7.

      Finally, Obama’s credibility of the promise of change is being questioned by many of his ardent supporters with leaked announcement of the appointment of Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State. It is more than cynical on the part of president-elect, as after having exerting considerable effort during the primary to criticize Hilary for her views on the war in Iraq and foreign policy, he now asks her to be the head of State Department. Apart from lack of experiences in conducting foreign policy, “Hillary will be a loose cannon as secretary of state, burning her own image at every turn.”10. This leads some to conclude that Obama’s “promise of change has proven so bankrupt that maybe the rest of his candidacy is, too.”10.

       That  indeed will be unfortunate, as the election of Barack Obama has bought hope to the American people under the atmosphere of gloom and doom amidst this dreadful financial crisis. Abroad, there will be great disappointment too, as his victory “was met with euphoria in many nations by those who see him as restoring their faith in American ideals.”11.

       In reality one should not expect too much of Obama and his promise of change. In foreign policy, one of his chief advisors is Zbigniew Brzezinski, a cold war warrior whose main preoccupation as geopolitical strategist was American dominance. Accordingly, Obama “opposes the present U.S. policy in Iraq not on the basis of any principled opposition to neo-colonialism or aggressive war, but rather on the grounds that the Iraq war is a mistaken deployment of power that fails to advance the global strategic interests of American imperialism.”12.

       Domestically, the promise of change is only a pipe dream, as “change in Washington requires breaking many iron grips.”13 Any appointment by Obama would have to win Senate confirmation, which is under the undue influence of the powerful lobbying groups such as the military industrial complex, the Israel Lobby, and the powerful financial interests in Wall Street. Thus, it can be said with certainty, notwithstanding Obama’s promise of change, status quo and business as usual will return to Washington when he enters office in 2009.

Notes:

1. Harnden T. and Leach B.: “Barack Obama promise new dawn of American leadership” November 5, 2008 Telegraph. Co. UK
2. Cockburn Alexander: “Obama Goes Over the Top” June 7/8 2008  www.counterpunch.com
3. Schulte Elizabeth: “Obama’s War Room” July 7, 2008 www.counterpunch.com
4. Stanton John: “Nationalize the U.S. Defense Industry”  Information Clearing House
5. Amiri Rannie: “Dual Loyalties Will Doom Obama”  November 17, 2008  www.counterpunch.com
6. Roberts Paul Craig: “Obama and the Fall into Tyranny”  June 16, 2008  www.counterpunch.com
7. Walen Chris: “What Barack Obama Needs to Know About Tim Giethner, the AIG Fiasco and Citicorp”  November 24, 2008  www.ritholtz.com
8. Spengler: “Obama’s one-trick wizards” November 25, 2008 Asia Times Online
9. New York Times Editorial: “Mr. Obama’s Economic Adviser”  November 25, 2008   New York Times
10. Morris Dick, McCann Eileen: “Hillary Clinton’s world of trouble for Obama”  November 25, 2008  BostHerald.com
11. Baldauf Scott: “ Campaign ‘08”  November 5, 2008  Christian Science Monitor
12. Blum Williams: “ Obama and the Empire”  August 7, 2008  www.counterpunch.com
13. Roberts Paul Craig: “ The Era of Dynastic Politics, were Nothing Really Change. President Hillary”  January 24, 2008  www.counterpunch.com