Zinn

Zinn the Communist:

This is not shocking to anyone who's read his books; in fact, it's the perfect explanation for them. The story combines frantic Communism (attended CPUSA meetings five nights a week) with blatant dishonesty (lied about it).

Zinn died not long ago, but he lived long enough to write a piece about the first year of the Obama presidency.

I thought that in the area of constitutional rights he would be better than he has been. That's the greatest disappointment, because Obama went to Harvard Law School and is presumably dedicated to constitutional rights. But he becomes president, and he's not making any significant step away from Bush policies. Sure, he keeps talking about closing Guantánamo, but he still treats the prisoners there as "suspected terrorists." They have not been tried and have not been found guilty. So when Obama proposes taking people out of Guantánamo and putting them into other prisons, he's not advancing the cause of constitutional rights very far. And then he's gone into court arguing for preventive detention, and he's continued the policy of sending suspects to countries where they very well may be tortured.

I think people are dazzled by Obama's rhetoric, and that people ought to begin to understand that Obama is going to be a mediocre president--which means, in our time, a dangerous president--unless there is some national movement to push him in a better direction.

There is, of course: the Tea Party Movement.