Obama Says He Himself “Destroys one of the Best Things About the Internet”

Barack Obama, back when he was first hustling his way into the Oval Office, made many false promises and representations about his intentions and policies. Starting as soon as he achieved state power, he showed his true colors by doing the opposite of what he promised.

Technically these are broken promises, but that implies an initial intention to do what he said he was going to do. With the possible exception of closing Guantanamo Bay for PR purposes to tidy up America's image (and moving the prisoners to other prisons- that part wasn't mentioned, including by the corporate media) there is no evidence he ever intended to do what he said. For example, as soon as he got in office, he appointed the architects of the financial calamity and Clinton regime retreads to key positions of power. He has worked to steadily increase the power of the secret police state and ratchet up domestic repression. Abroad, he personally presides over a never-ending campaign of mass assassination (over 4,000 killed by drones so far, and others killed by various means such as airstrikes, military death squad raids, etc.). As far as winding down the Iraq war, it was already being wound down, so he merely was continuing Bush regime policy, as in other matters.

The correct term isn't broken promises. It's betrayals. With malice aforethought, he conned his way into the White House.

I was on to this con man in 2004, when he was first trotted out on the national stage at the Democrats' party convention that year. Others have been much, much slower to “figure Obama out.” There's really nothing complex here. He's an obvious hustler and extremely calculating and ambitious self-promoter (the pattern goes back to his college days), just like the previous Democratic regime heads, the Clintons, with absolutely no moral limits or ethical values. The only limits are imposed by political considerations, which includes imagery.

I don't know how often or egregiously Obama needs to lie to and double-cross people for them to get over being “disappointed” or “disillusioned” with him to finally see reality clearly and take the true measure of the man.

Anyway, here's the latest betrayal. He ran in 2007 and 2008 voicing full-throated support for “net neutrality,” the concept that different websites shouldn't pay for privileged access to homes and other endpoints of data transfer, and ISPs (Internet Service Providers, the corporations that connect end users to the Internet, namely cable TV companies, Telecoms, and satellite providers, and other intermediaries that have to pay to use the wires, fibers, or bandwidth of those companies) shouldn't charge website for privileged, faster transmission speeds while in effect discriminating against smaller websites that lack the capital to pay up.

Now he's done another of his complete reversals. He just appointed a new Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, a wheeler-dealer by the name of Tom Wheeler, who just happens to be the number one lobbyist for both the cable and telecom industries (both of which honored him with awards for his outstanding service on their behalf), and Wheeler is pushing through permission for cable companies to differentiate speed of transmission for websites based on their paying to in effect jump to the head of the transmission line. (And you thought that only Republican regimes appointed foxes to guard the hen houses!) No less than a former FCC commissioner, Michael Copps, who was the longest serving chairman, has denounced this policy.

Let's take a stroll down memory lane and refresh our memories about this Barack Obama Forgotten Pledge. Here he is saying his policy of today “destroys one of the best things about the Internet.” The occasion was an arranged setup with MTV, a channel set up targeting youth, which was helping him in his Pied Piper strategy of getting credulous young people to follow along behind him:

                                                                  

“So as President I'm gonna make sure, that that is the principle, that, my FCC commissioners, uh, are applying, uh, as we move forward.” Did you hear that? Right at the end. Ah, but all that was then. This is now. He should adopt Nixon mouthpiece Ron Ziegler's formulation, and say those previous false statements are "inoperative."

This was in answer to a question from an alleged small businessman with a website. (Longer version with the questioner below.)

He also went out of his way to mislead the digital drones at Google. Here he is at Google HQ:

                                                                      

Apparently “the next chapter in American innovation” is even greater corporate consolidation, power, and control. Comcast, the cable giant that is at the forefront of throttling “freeloader” websites and demanding payment for privileged access to its subscribers, is right now absorbing Time-Warner cable, creating a gargantuan cable system. There is less and less competition for providing Internet access. Most Americans have a choice of either two or one cable providers as it is.

Well, at least ONE Google executive was swayed by the con:

                                                                       

Then we have a young Obama foot soldier (note his teeshirt) who was probably a ringer tasked with “asking a [pre-determined] question.” Anyway, it gave Obama another opportunity to trot out one of his lies:

                                                                         

                                                                               

There he goes again, decrying the idea of access providers wanting to “charge a premium” to some websites, and defending “net neutrality.” “That's going to be a major battle,” he said. And now we can see without any doubt which side he's on. What a treacherous guy! He's an enemy infiltrator of all progressive movements, in effect. Maybe NOW fools will finally STOP INVESTING HOPES in establishment politicians. At least vote for genuine reformers, like Nader (savagely attacked by the Democratic Party enforcers at The Nation magazine, among others).

Here's the longer version of the Q and A from MTV:

                                                                                  

But all this is small beer next to thousands of assassinations, signing into law (and fanatically defending in court) a law allowing Americans to be indefinitely imprisoned in the military gulag at the whim of the President, erecting the most massive system of population surveillance in human history, the deportation of two million non-citizen workers (smashing countless families to bits in the process), and empowering the U.S. Border Patrol to shoot dead Mexican citizens in Mexico for “throwing rocks” (which isn't even true sometimes), to name a few monstrous horrors of the Era of Obama.