Barack Obama wasted no time bowing down to his Wall Street financial backers and war-mongering advisors. His cabinet selections represent the same old politics of imperialist wars of plunder abroad and police containment policies against the African and Mexican communities here. It could not be clearer that Obama is, as the Uhuru Movement sums up, a neocolonialist essential during these times of deep crisis to hide the vicious reality of U.S. imperialist white power under the cover of an African face.
Here is some information about his cabinet selections so far.
Penny Pritzker, nominated for Secretary of Commerce: Pritzker has reportedly declined this position. If this is true it is obviously because of her instrumental role in the whole subprime mortgage scam and other shady financial dealings that would come under public scrutiny during senate confirmation hearings for her post. According to reports Pritzker's financial record is so dubious she never even filled out the vetting form required for the Obama transition team of which she is a part.
According to today's New York Times, "Burt Ely, a banking consultant who testified at a 2001 Senate committee hearing about the failure [due to subprime mortgage dealings] of [the Pritzker family-owned] Superior Bank, said it had never made sense for Ms. Pritzker to become a nominee. 'The confirmation hearing could have been quite ugly for all that would have been dredged up about Superior as well as possibly other Pritzker dealings,' Mr. Ely said Thursday."
Read the rest of the revealing article in today’s New York Times (Nov. 21, 2008) about her.
For more on Pritzker who is reported to be the inventor of the subprime mortgage scam as an investment tool, see our slide show "Can Obama really bring the change we need?" on the APSC home page. This presentation also has other in-depth info on Obama's positions, backers and advisors.
Janet Napolitano, nominated to Secretary of Homeland Security: Though her appointment to Homeland Security is being heralded as an improvement over the Bush administration by some, Napolitano in fact signals a tough stand for the Obama administration on vicious border enforcement and other policies against Mexican workers. Here is what the Washington Post said about her on June 26, 2006:
“Among the nation's top Democrats, Napolitano has developed some of the toughest policies against illegal immigration. She was one of the first major politicians to call for deployment of the National Guard along the border and declared a state of emergency in her state's counties nearest Mexico. She has aggressively pursued smugglers in Arizona. In February, she joined with Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. (R) to outline a plan for immigration reform that called for more funding for border security, more visas for foreign workers and no blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants.”
See the whole Washington Post article on Napolitano.
Eric Holder–Attorney General: Holder is a Clinton-era bureaucrat from the DOJ who played a major role in implementing the Crime Bill’s mandate to put 100,000 new police on the ground when he was assistant Attorney General under Clinton. Though he is being "warmly received" by both Republicans and Democrats, Holder is being criticized for some of his positions and past actions by liberals.
As a private lawyer Holder played a key role in “negotiating an agreement with the Justice Department that got Chiquita Bananas for paying protection money to right wing death squads in Colombia.” Also Holder was part of the legal team that in 2005 developed strategies for securing reauthorization of the Patriot Act. (See article on Nation.com).
No one outside of the Uhuru Movement, however, is criticizing Holder for his most serious crimes: his role in enforcing the brutal policies of police containment of the African community, such as supporting mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines and three strikes legislation and putting more and more cops on the streets of black neighborhoods already under siege by U.S. government-imposed martial law.
See yesterday's Uhuru Solidarity blog entry here on Eric Holder.
For an in-depth look at the backgrounds of the top 20 people on Obama's war and plunder-loving foreign policy team see, "This is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama's White House," by Jeremy Scahill that appeared on AlterNet.org today.
For the most dynamic analysis of the unfolding Obama presidency and the current economic and political crisis of imperialism from the point of view of the African working class, listen to "Africa Live" at 11 am EST every Sunday on Uhuru Radio featuring Chairman Omali Yeshitela and others, and visit UhuruNews.com.
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