Tariq Ali interviewed in CounterPunch
Earlier today, CounterPunch published an interview with author and filmmaker Tariq Ali. Ali's recent book, The Obama Syndrome, predicted the failure of Obama's first term, and Ali discusses why Democrats are still supporting him—and why they will still vote for him—in his conversation with CounterPunch's Collin Harris.
The crux of the argument is what Harris refers to as "lesser evil-ism," or the idea that, despite his faults, Obama is better than the other option. Ali argues that Obama is able to get away with far more than the Bush administration was because of his public image and the willingness of his middle-class liberal supporters to turn a blind eye to his actions. As Ali says of what would have happened if George W. Bush had attempted to pass the National Defense Authorization Act, "One can even imagine Senator Obama jumping up and down in manufactured rage denouncing these assaults on the Constitution."
Visit CounterPunch to read the interview in full.