My best friend from our hometown of New York City is a staunch Sanders supporter. He and I usually agree on most progressive ideals, except for his (oh how I don’t like to use that P word) Pragmatism.
He called me the other night and was outraged at an incident during an Obama town hall meeting on violence by and against police. I did not watch it, as I rarely if ever choose to watch Mr. Obama speak about anything, being the stooge that he is. My friend had taped it and was now viewing it for the first time. He said something about an Afro American Mom whose I believe teenaged son was protesting at the town hall. My friend said that she pushed him away and was slapping his face very hard over and over. “That woman should be arrested for child abuse!” my friend was yelling over the phone. “That kid had a right to protest!” I told him that instead of being so angered by this, perhaps he should be angry that the Bush/Cheney cabal, the Blair gang in the UK, and of course Obama and Ms. Killary should all be arrested as war criminals. “What are you a one trick pony?” was his retort.
How about we play the What If game? Let’s start with those out there who supported and were patriotically enthused by our Shock and Awe (illegal and immoral) invasion of Iraq. This includes working stiffs, politicos, retired military colonels and generals and mainstream media hacks. For all of those ‘rally round the flag’ armchair patriots, suppose this: Your daughter or granddaughter was married to an Iraqi man, let us say for purposes of discussion, a totally non political well paid professor at a university in Baghdad. His wife, your loving offspring, lived with him in Baghdad with their two young children. Shock and Awe hits and you get that phone call you hoped you’ d never get . . . all of them dead! Would you still be glorifying the little punk president when he struts across that air craft carrier?
Now to both the ‘Feel the Bern’ and Killary supporters: You daughter or granddaughter was married to a Libyan professor, with a well paying position at a Tripoli university. They had two young children and as with the aforementioned narrative, the NATO carpet bombing campaign (which as we all know was mostly US run) brings forth a similar phone call . . . and all are dead! As we all should know, Ms. Killary was front and center in pushing Obama for such an action . . . and ‘Feel the Bern’ supported it wholeheartedly! Do any of you out there think you would be supporting ‘Feel the Bern’ or the wicked witch four-plus years later?
Sometimes we need to ride those one trick ponies until we can’t anymore.
Philip A Farruggio is a semi-retired baby boomer born and bred in blue collar Brooklyn, NYC. He is the son and grandson of Brooklyn longshoremen, and educated at ‘free tuition’ Brooklyn College, class of ‘ 74. Philip has written over 300 columns since 2001 and his work is found on many fine progressive sites like World News Trust, Nation of Change, Information Clearinghouse, Intrepid Report, Sleuth Journal, Dandelion Salad, Counterpunch and Dissident Voice. He can be reached at paf1222@bellsouth.net.
