ower and coal (though he calls it "clean coal"). Like McCain, he is also in favor of offshore drilling ("drill, baby, drill!"). Obama also voted in favor of Bush and Cheney's 2005 energy bill, saying "it was the best that we could do right now." Ironically, John McCain voted against.
When it comes to foreign policy, Obama will be more like Madeleine Albright and Bill Clinton (who bombed Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia during his term of office, and whose economic sanctions on Iraq led to a million deaths) than the Bush neo-cons. In other words, he will continue to pursue and defend U.S. imperialism's interests abroad, albeit with less arrogance and with more diplomatic cover. His choice of Joe Biden (who was in favor of partitioning Iraq), is just one indication of this.
Attention has turned to the economy, but the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention the situation in Pakistan, the entire Middle East and Latin America, and relations with Iran, Russia and China remain major challenges confronting the new administration. Obama will likely reach out to the Middle East with an expected major policy speech to be given somewhere in the Arab world. He may shift some troops around the region and call for "dialogue" with Syria, Iran and others, while keeping "all options on the table." But his fundamental policy in the region will not be much different from Bush's. It is no accident that one of his first stops after securing the Democratic nomination was to ingratiate himself with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) the main pro-Israel lobbying group, one of Bush's main supporters.
While skilfully avoiding any real commitment on Iraq, Obama has successfully pulled off another "bait and switch" trick to get anti-war voters to vote for a pro-war candidate. In fact, he has said explicitly that any troops withdrawn from Iraq should instead be sent to Afghanistan! However, U.S. imperialism's adventure in Iraq is doomed and its combat troops will eventually have to be pulled out. Nonetheless, the Pentagon and the mega-contractors will do everything in their power to keep the massive bases they have built in Iraq. By pulling the troops back to these bases, Obama could give the appearance of de-escalating the war while continuing to project U.S. imperialism's force throughout the Middle East.
He has also postured aggressively in relation to Iran, does not rule out invading Pakistan, and called Venezuela's democratically-elected President Hugo Chavez a dictator. It is unlikely, to say the least, that he will disband the U.S. 4th fleet, which was reactivated just this year to "patrol" Latin America and the Caribbean. He has also promised to close the prison camp at Guantanamo, and may well do so. The symbolism of such a move would be important for his image, but he would more than likely simply move the prisoners held there elsewhere.
We will know more once he announces his foreign policy cabinet appointments (all unelected positions, by the way), but a look at his election campaign advisors certainly gives us an indication of what's to come. During the campaign he was advised on foreign policy by former national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski (who funded the mujahedeen in Afghanistan, the precursors to the Taleban); former assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice (mentored by Madeleine Albright); former Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig (under whose watch the U.S. bombed Yugoslavia); former counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke (under Clinton and G.W. Bush); General Merrill McPeak (a vocal supporter of Indonesia's occupation of East Timor); and Dennis Ross (a supporter of Israel's occupation of the West Bank), among others. They say that you can judge a man by the friends he keeps. That list of "friends" speaks for itself.
A New 'New Deal'?
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was not elected on a New Deal platform. He was forced to implement these social and public works policies in a last ditch effort to save U.S. capitalism from the danger of socialist revolution. But we should remember that back in the 19