Hopeless : Barack Obama and the politics of illusion

Prelude: Barack Obama, changeling / Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank -- Marketing hope / Kevin Alexander Gray -- Obama's money cartel / Pam Martens -- A kettle of hawks / Jeremy Scahill -- Obama's Israel problem / Joshua Frank -- From Oscar Grant to Barack Obama / Ron Jacobs -- AIG and the system / Jeffrey St. Clair -- Orwell in Baghdad / Chris Floyd -- A redneck view of Obamarama / Joe Bageant -- Obama and abortion rights / Sharon Smith -- From state secrets to wiretaps / Sibel Edmonds -- Obama and the man in the hat / Jeffrey St. Clair -- The Wall Street White House / Andrew Cockburn -- The Honduran coup / Conn Hallinan -- Obama's immigration reforms / Wajahat Ali -- The wolf at Trout Creek / Jeffrey St. Clair -- Obama's mistakes in health care reform / Vincente Navarro -- The Afghan war question / Franklin Spinney -- Obama and nuclear power / Joshua Frank and Jeffrey St. Clair -- The novocaine presidency / Kevin Alexander Gray -- Obama's war for oil in Columbia / Daniel Kovalik -- Blowback of the drones / Gary Leupp -- America the pacified / Kathy Kelly -- Kagan's disturbing record / Marjorie Cohn -- Obama and the nuclear rocket / Karl Grossman -- Torturing the rule of law / Chase Madar -- Eat, pray, be disappointed / Paul Krassner -- Let them eat oil / Jeffrey St. Clair -- Obama's sellout on taxes / Michael Hudson -- Obama and rendition / Steve Hendricks -- The murdered women of Juarez / Laura Carlsen -- Obama's puzzling silence / Ralph Nader -- Inside Obamanomics / Ismael Hossein-zadeh -- The US as Israel's enabler in the Middle East / Kathleen Christison -- Obama as deregulationist / Andrew Levine -- Monsanto's minions / Rommie Cummins -- The torture of Bradley Manning / Medea Benjamin and Charles Davis -- Winding down Obama / Linh Dinh -- Sexual politics in the age of Obama / David Rosen -- What has Bin Laden's killing wrought? / Ray McGovern -- Much ado about nothing / Alvaro Huerta -- The Obama administration and Iran / Susan Fayazmanesh -- Obama's nuclear weapons surge / Darwin Bond-Graham -- Friends without benefits / David Macaray -- War colleges / Henry Giroux -- Politics as the earth burns / Brian Tokar -- Obama's attack on Social Security and Medicare / Dave Lindorff -- Obama's assault on civil liberties / Bill Quigley -- Top ten myths in the war on Libya / Maximilian Forte -- War and debt / Michael Hudsen -- Perpetual war / Tariq Ali -- Guantánamo, torture and Obama surrenders / Andy Worthington -- Obama and the economy / Mike Whitney -- The audacity of dope / Fred Gardner -- Black backlash against Obama / Linn Washington, Jr. -- Coda, occupy the system / Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank.;The dissident left dismantles Obama's failed "progressive" agenda. Content: Prelude: Barack Obama, changeling / Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank -- Marketing hope / Kevin Alexander Gray -- Obama's money cartel / Pam Martens -- A kettle of hawks / Jeremy Scahill -- Obama's Israel problem / Joshua Frank -- From Oscar Grant to Barack Obama / Ron Jacobs -- AIG and the system / Jeffrey St. Clair -- Orwell in Baghdad / Chris Floyd -- A redneck view of Obamarama / Joe Bageant -- Obama and abortion rights / Sharon Smith -- From state secrets to wiretaps / Sibel Edmonds -- Obama and the man in the hat / Jeffrey St. Clair -- The Wall Street White House / Andrew Cockburn -- The Honduran coup / Conn Hallinan -- Obama's immigration reforms / Wajahat Ali -- The wolf at Trout Creek / Jeffrey St. Clair -- Obama's mistakes in health care reform / Vincente Navarro -- The Afghan war question / Franklin Spinney -- Obama and nuclear power / Joshua Frank and Jeffrey St. Clair -- The novocaine presidency / Kevin Alexander Gray -- Obama's war for oil in Columbia / Daniel Kovalik -- Blowback of the drones / Gary Leupp -- America the pacified / Kathy Kelly -- Kagan's disturbing record / Marjorie Cohn -- Obama and the nuclear rocket / Karl Grossman -- Torturing the rule of law / Chase Madar -- Eat, pray, be disappointed / Paul Krassner -- Let them eat oil / Jeffrey St. Clair -- Obama's sellout on taxes / Michael Hudson -- Obama and rendition / Steve Hendricks -- The murdered women of Juarez / Laura Carlsen -- Obama's puzzling silence / Ralph Nader -- Inside Obamanomics / Ismael Hossein-zadeh -- The US as Israel's enabler in the Middle East / Kathleen Christison -- Obama as deregulationist / Andrew Levine -- Monsanto's minions / Rommie Cummins -- The torture of Bradley Manning / Medea Benjamin and Charles Davis -- Winding down Obama / Linh Dinh -- Sexual politics in the age of Obama / David Rosen -- What has Bin Laden's killing wrought? / Ray McGovern -- Much ado about nothing / Alvaro Huerta -- The Obama administration and Iran / Susan Fayazmanesh -- Obama's nuclear weapons surge / Darwin Bond-Graham -- Friends without benefits / David Macaray -- War colleges / Henry Giroux -- Politics as the earth burns / Brian Tokar -- Obama's attack on Social Security and Medicare / Dave Lindorff -- Obama's assault on civil liberties / Bill Quigley -- Top ten myths in the war on Libya / Maximilian Forte -- War and debt / Michael Hudsen -- Perpetual war / Tariq Ali -- Guantánamo, torture and Obama surrenders / Andy Worthington -- Obama and the economy / Mike Whitney -- The audacity of dope / Fred Gardner -- Black backlash against Obama / Linn Washington, Jr. -- Coda, occupy the system / Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank.

"Those who feel that like lemmings they are being led over a cliff would be well-advised not to read this book. They may discover that they are right."—Noam Chomsky

“Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank have skillfully smoked out the real Barack Obama . . . the technofascist military strategist disguised as a Nobel Peace Laureate, but owned, operated, and controlled by Wall Street, Corporate America, and the Pentagon.”—Thomas H. Naylor, co-author of Affluenza, Downsizing the USA

“The writers assembled here hit hard, with accuracy, and do not pull punches."—Marcus Rediker, author of The Slave Ship: A Human History

The Barack Obama revolution was over before it started, guttered by the politician’s overweening desire to prove himself to the grandees of the establishment. From there on, other promises proved ever easier to break. Here's the book that dares not let Obama off the hook. It's all here: the compromises, the backstabbing, the same old imperial ambitions. Covering all major "Obummer" categories since he took office, this fast-paced collection will delight the critical and offer food for thought for those contemplating the 2012 electoral circus—and beyond.

Jeffrey St. Clair is co-editor of CounterPunch, author of Born Under a Bad Sky and Been Brown So Long it Looked Green to Me, and co-author of Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs, and the Press.

Joshua Frank is an environmental journalist and co-editor of Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance in the Heartland. His investigative reports and columns appear in CounterPunch, Chicago Sun-Times, Common Dreams, and AlterNet.

Offers an indictment of the Obama presidency from writers on the American Left. This collection of essays presents a view of Obama's policies from the trenches: the compromises, the backstabbing, and the same old imperial ambitions. --Adapted from publisher description