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WORLD SOCIALIST REVIEW: No. 22: February 2011

Price: £8.95
Subtitle: 
Publication of the World Socialist Party (US)
ISBN 13: 
9781460920435
Number of pages: 
112
Blurb: 

Is Obama a socialist? He does not regard himself as one. Neither do we. This issue of World Socialist Review examines Obama's outlook and life story, his packaging as a politician, and his policy in such areas as healthcare, the economy, and the environment. It also places Obama in the context of world capitalism and the American political system.

From the Introduction:

"We have nothing against Obama personally. We do not accuse him of going into politics solely in pursuit of fame and fortune. He started out with the best of intentions, hoping that one day he might be able to do something to make the world a better place. Our aim is to show how the capitalist class, who exercise real power in our society, corrupt and co-opt well-intentioned young people like Obama, how capitalism frustrates and corrodes even the noblest aspirations."

Introductory blurb: 

World Socialist Review is published by the World Socialist Party of the United States, which forms part of the World Socialist Movement together with companion parties and groups in other countries. For further information and literature on other topics, please go to our websites at wspus.org and worldsocialism.org/spgb.

Contents: 

The Meaning of the U.S. Midterm Election Results
The majority did not vote
"Progressive" Democrats did well
Breakup of the two-party system?

Can the Tea Party Save the American Dream?
Why has the Tea Party risen to prominence now?
The American Dream
The appeal of the Tea Party

Disillusioned -- But Not Half Disillusioned Enough!
Principled spinelessness
A case of wishful thinking
A foreign policy dove?
Hardly the stuff of "socialism"

Obama: The Brand and the President
Marketer of the year
History of PR
The father of spin
Obama's slogans
Sock-puppets
Paint by numbers
Duplicity on climate change
Politicians in the goldfish bowl

The World Outlook of the Young Obama
Scarcity of evidence
Timeline of Obama as a Child and Young Man
Conflicting messages
Making it
Obama and Alinsky
Obama's quest for his father
Political content of early Obama texts
Conclusion

How Much is Obama Worth?
A long way from the top
Why does all this matter?
A helping hand?

On Health Insurance Reform
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The real beneficiaries
The public option (robust or otherwise)
Retreating from Public Healthcare in Five Easy Stages
The farce of government regulation
Corporate lobbyists still supreme
The context of austerity
Why not a national health service?

Life's Unwitting Executioner
Cumulative effects
Green Obama?
The car culture lives on
Renewable fuels
Mother Nature laid low
Aspirations compromised, promises unfulfilled
The Anthropocene
Is it too late?

Asteroid Wars
Near-earth asteroids
Window of opportunity
An asteroid war?

Selecting a U.S. President: The Invisible Primaries
Money and media coverage
The limits of the acceptable
Confused, frustrated, underwhelmed

The Electoral College

The Politics of the "Lesser Evil"
What they say versus what they do
Differences that make no difference
Obama and "black" people
A political cycle
A two-phase strategy
The difference that matters

Unemployment -- Is It Really the Problem?

Waste and Want: How Capitalism Destroys Useful Things
Grapes of Wrath
Leaving strawberries to rot
Bulldozing houses
Slashing clothes and shoes
The vintage

Is There a Cure for Economic Crises?

The Gift of Blood

Two Petrachan Sonnets

10 Good Reasons Why We Are Fighting in Afghanistan

Reflections on Right Wing Talk Radio
The function of paranoia
Farewell to Keynes

Book Reviews:
Role Modeling Socialist Behavior: The Life and Letters of Isaac Rab -- Karla Doris Rab
The Impossibilists -- Peter E. Newell

Boston Local in the 1930s: Excerpt from Role Modeling Socialist Behavior: The Life and Letters of Isaac Rab
The Western Socialist
The War Years
The Scott Nearing Debate
World Socialist Party of the United States

Russia Never Was Socialist: From Impossibilists: Selected Articles
Article from OBU Bulletin, August 23, 1929

Declaration of Principles of the Companion Parties of World Socialism