Bill Maher got his recent birthday wish, he got his time with President Obama and posed just the right questions.
I especially appreciated the question on our bloated military (600 billion to a trillion) and the reference to Eisenhower's warning in regard to the US military-industrial complex. President Obama, in his eloquent defense, made it sound like the US military is an international force for peace. I am not buying it, and neither is Putin and too many in the Middle East and Africa. President Obama, a-glass-half-full-guy, cautioned Progressives in not fully appreciating the good the US effects around the world, even if imperfect and urged citizens to stay involved and demand change from the grounds up. Problem is we demanded change, we demanded peace, we protested against so many wars yet the ears of the powerful stay purposefully deaf.
Socialism and the issue of what should be free from the for-profit motive for the common good are other relevant topics that did not make it into the election debates but should have. President Obama stressed that we already have systems in place that deserve our support and building on, such as the health care system and I am sure the extracting oil & gas industries among others. I am still with Sanders and abhor the exploitation of our earth and people's basic needs such as health care. Retrain the workers in the extracting industries, don't use them as an excuse. Let's hope that at the very least our prisons-for-profit are on their way out.
President Obama claimed that atheists are not being persecuted, maybe, but we sure are being bombarded with ridiculous religious legislations and have to suffer through repeated, ever lengthening, archaic Christian rituals imposed on us all. Acknowledgment of a steadily growing number of citizens not identifying with a religion is surely welcome on my part and those recovering from Catholicism.
In closing, President Obama showed himself, as usual, to be eloquent, charming and cool, but not necessarily right on the issues.
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