Writing for San Francisco's BeyondChron, Matt Gonzalez takes a hard look at Barack Obama's policies.

This is a candidate who says he’s going to usher in change; that he is a different kind of politician who has the skills to get things done. He reminds us again and again that he had the foresight to oppose the war in Iraq. And he seems to have a genuine interest in lifting up the poor.

But his record suggests that he is incapable of ushering in any kind of change I’d like to see. It is one of accommodation and concession to the very political powers that we need to rein in and oppose if we are to make truly lasting advances.

 Some of the key points made include:

• Obama supported spending on the War in Iraq, as well as reauthorizing the Patriot Act.
• He refuses to commit to pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq by 2013.
• He wants to increase the military by 100,000 troops.
  
• He plans to move troops from Iraq to Afghanistan, merely changing the war rather than ending it.
• He voted in favor of banks and corporations to pass the Class Action Fairness Act, which removes states' abilities to handle class action lawsuits. Under the act, only federal courts can handle class action lawsuits, and in general these courts are much more hostile towards them.
• He voted with the banks again when he refused to cap credit card interest rates, ensuring many more people will continue to stay in debt and poverty. Pretty good proof that he doesn't really are about members of the poor working class.

And then there are many more.  Definitely worth reading.

On the plus side, Nader threw his hat in the ring last week. Unless it looks like a Republican won't carry the state (which hasn't happened in a very long time), Texans wanting to make a difference should ignore the election cycle completely, spend about 2 minutes voting for Nader in November, and then get back to doing important shit. In fat, I can say with certainty that the only time my vote made a difference was when I voted for Nader in 2004. (My ballot somehow broke the machine and held the line up. Who knew voting could be direct action?)

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