Chris Hedges Take Aim At Obama, ‘Faux Liberals’

Web correspondent Jenny Wilson reports:

Liberal disappointment with Obama seems to have disappeared this week but one need look no further than former New York Times Middle East bureau chief Chris Hedges to see that it still exists. The Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author slammed corporate power in America, the Democratic Party, and the state of American politics in a speech at Hartford’s Watkinson School Thursday night. Obama, whose re-election led to subsequent euphoria within his party, was a frequent target as well.

“On all the major, structural issues, it is utter continuity with George Bush,” said Hedges of Obama’s record.

Granted, Obama’s record on civil liberties has disappointed many members of his own party. But Hedges also likened the President to Sarah Palin on the issue of climate change and attacked him on some of his more popular legislative achievements like the auto bailout and health care reform.

Hedges said that corporate power has led to “political paralysis” and that corporate influence in today’s politics stifles citizen movements. He spoke of “the rise of the faux liberal,” describing a Democratic leader today as one “who speaks in traditional feel your pain language of liberalism and yet betrays the very constituency that liberals traditionally watched out for.”

So what’s with all the happy liberal constituents these days? It’s fear, Hedges argues.