Ten Reasons Why Progressives Should Not Vote for Obama

In the latest edition of Justice, the publication by Socialist Alternative our American section of the CWI have published a excellent 10 point critique of the reasons why progressive thinkers and Americans should not vote for Obama Socialist alternative is saying if you wish to vote at all that your vote should go to Gill of the Greens as she is the most pro worker but do raise the demand and the need for a new mass workers party breaking with the two party system which is two parties of big business and bank bailouts and illegal wars in the US.
I myself will be watching the presidential race this year and I’m sure turnout will be down as people have little faith in politicians any longer and America in the belly of the capitalist system this is true too. The occupy movement and the anti foreclosure Stein campaigns have stood socialist alternative in an excellent position and have been growing and building very well. They are in fact our fastest growing section in our 43 section international.
Below I post the 10 reasons not to back Obama and the democrats this fall and the conclusions need to be drawn by the masses for a new party of the left, standing up for workers and sweeping aside capitalism building for a socialist alternative in America.

1. Wall Street and Corporate America fund Obama’s campaigns.
His top contributors in 2008 were the same big banks guilty of causing the housing crisis. He awarded these nearly 80% of his donors with senior-level government jobs (telegraph.co.uk, 6/2011).
2. Obama bailed out Wall Street…
The bailouts amounted to more than $16 trillion (therawstory.com, 10/2010). Since then, corporate profits accounted for 88% of economic growth and have now exceeded pre-recession profit levels.
3. ...Not working people, students, or homeowners.
Under Obama, the gap between workers’ wages and corporate profits climbed to its highest point since right before the Great Depression (politifact.com, 8/2011), the number of Americans living in poverty increased to 46 million - a 50-year high (LA Times, 9/2011), the total student debt topped $1 trillion (Wall Street Journal, 3/2012), and home foreclosures are projected to rise to 1.5 million (LA Times, 10/2011).
4. Obama failed to stop massive cuts to education and public services.
His 2011 bipartisan budget deal represented the largest drop ever in U.S. domestic spending, including slashing $493 million from Pell Grants and billions more from education, health, and labour (www.scpr.org, 4/12/2011).
5. Obama allowed insurance and pharmaceutical companies to dictate the terms of the Affordable Care Act.
Instead of sweeping away the for-profit insurance companies that dominate the dysfunctional health care system, he handed them millions of new customers with a government mandate requiring everyone to buy insurance plans. He even scrapped the public option, despite it having the support of 61% of Americans (CNN, 10/2009).
6. Obama has continued Bush’s war policies.
He ended “combat operations” in Iraq based on Bush’s timeline, yet he maintains a significant presence through 9,500 private contractors and 3,000 troops. He also increased funding for military spending, escalated the disastrous war in Afghanistan, and intensified drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia.
7. Obama has continued attacks on civil liberties.
He signed the National Defence Authorization Act, which allows the indefinite military detention of anyone, anywhere, without charge or trial, including U.S. citizens. He punished more government employee whistle-blowers than any previous president, reauthorized Bush’s Patriot Act, personally oversees a secret kill list that has included U.S. citizens, failed to close Guantanamo Bay, and allows the continuation of the domestic surveillance program against Muslim-Americans.
8. Obama has deported more immigrants than any other president in any two-year period.
He expanded E-Verify, further militarized the U.S.-Mexican border, and utilized the highly flawed “Secure Communities” program as a key part of his crackdown on undocumented immigrants (Reuters, 9/2011).
9. Obama has prioritized the interests of Corporate America and oil companies over the environment.
Obama failed to deliver meaningful action on global climate change at the Copenhagen and Durbin summits. He opened the Arctic and the East Coast to offshore drilling, expanded fossil fuel production and fracking, provided loans to build the first nuclear power plant in 30 years, and welcomed the beginning of construction on the Keystone XL pipeline.
10. Even as the first African American president, Obama has failed to address the social and economic situation of people of colour.
African American unemployment increased more than other racial groups under Obama (guardian.co.uk, 10/2011). African American unemployment stands at 13.6% and Latino unemployment at 11%, compared to white unemployment at 7.4% (CNN, 5/2012). Meanwhile, Obama continues to fund the failed “War on Drugs” while doing nothing to address the mass incarceration of African Americans.