Of course a political candidate can't say those things I say, Bill. He has to avoid saying things that scare people too much or are too far outside their normal boundaries and assumptions. He has to aim for the mainstream center of popular opinion to form an effective and winning coalition. He has to say what will get him elected...unless he is Dennis Kucinich or Ron Paul, in which case he dares to say some of the things that will quite definitely not get him elected, because they are a little too close to the bone for middle America to hear without getting terribly, terribly nervous. Those guys dare to do that because they are genuinely men of principle, first and foremost, and will not yield on a point of principle. Such men get short shrift from the political system and are almost never elected. They're considered too dangerous.

Obama is doing what he needs to do to get elected. That's very sensible on his part. If I were there, I would cross my fingers, hope for the best, and vote for Obama. Whether he will live up to your or my hopes is yet to be seen (if he wins at all), but we might as well give it a chance, right?

It's the only reachable chance there is at this point, as far as I can see, because America would never elect a Dennis Kucinich or a Ron Paul. No way that can happen.

Bill, if I were running for office in the USA...I would definitely not say the radical things I am saying here! ;-D I'm not that foolish, believe me. But due to the fact that I am a completely free man, and beholden to no one, and needing to curry no one's favor, and not needing to protect my professional ass in any way, I can say exactly what I think. I would be quite careful what I said (and didn't say) if I were a politician. One has to walk a very delicate line somewhere halfway between the whole truth, and what most people are willing to hear. That's one of the miserable things about being a politician. You have to please far too many people all the time!!! It muzzles a person to a great extent, although he can count, of course, on at least being listened to when he talks. ;-) I can't count on that, and I know it. But then, I never expected differently in that regard. No sweat.

There are many, many people around the world who see it as I do, including some very well trained professional observers. Some of them are politicians too. They (the politicians) aren't saying it openly...it would raise far too many diplomatic hackles...but they know it. The USA/UK alliance is the world's most ambitious and dangerous rogue military/political force in the world at present. They are committing naked aggression on the most feeble of trumped-up excuses. They are planning further such aggression, in my opinion. They are going where they ought not to go and flouting international law in an outrageous fashion. They are war criminals on a grand scale. They are doing it because they believe no one can stop them. They have become a law unto themselves. They are a wolf of war pretending to be a lamb of democracy.

And will most of their citizens be fooled by the same old rhetoric? Yes. Most Germans were. Most Italians were. Most Japanese were. People WANT to believe in their country and what it is doing, and that is why they can easily be fooled into supporting a war of aggression.

It always works that way. Most people just naturally will back the home team. "My country right or wrong." I don't back the home team when I know it's wrong.