Monday, January 26, 2009

How's The Obama Thing Working Out?

Back when we started this blog, I would have sworn that the election of a Democrat would just about kill the 9-11 Troof Movement. But I quickly came to realize that while there were a lot of left-wingers in the movement, this was not a left-wing movement. It's a fringe movement, involving the very fringiest of left-wingers, and libertarians as well. It's not Bush Derangement Syndrome but Plain Old Derangement.

Many Troofers have had little problem incorporating Obama into their mix. Folks like Alex Jones can spout their "false left/right paradigm" nonsense.

Some of the liberal troofers are still hopeful that Obama will embrace 9-11 Troof:

Barack Obama must first reveal the truth of our current financial nightmare as well as the abuses of power by the Bush/Cheney administration in order to restore trust in our government. That rapidly unfolding public vetting process will eventually lead to the 9/11 cover- up and Bush and Cheney's active participation or willing countenance of the tragic events of that day.


They are encouraged by his pledge to shut down Guantanamo.

But there are some storm clouds on the horizon as well. Obama has not endorsed the destruction of Israel, and that's causing some heartburn among the "Muslims never hurt anybody" wing of the Troof Brigade:

In a visit to the State Department Thursday, President Obama made his first substantive comments on the Middle East conflict since Israel’s attack on Gaza. Obama first mentioned his commitment to Israel’s security, without affirming his commitment to Palestinian security. He condemned Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israeli towns, but didn’t criticize the US-backed Israeli bombings of densely populated Gaza.


And Obama's comment that Al Qaeda remains America's number one enemy did not sit well with the Truth Action folks:

The savior with the pro-war heir-to-Irgun Chief of Staff who in the past week managed to boldly inform us that al Qaeda remains the Number One threat to Americans, that George Bush is a "good man" and that Venezuela is "exporting terrorism" and better beware. Not only am I not in the mood for the bullshit but I simply don't have the time or energy to accomodate that kind of deep sickness - at least not if I am to effectively continue with the work that I feel very strongly must be done - the work of 9/11 truth. It's hard to take watching folks who you think should know better getting caught up in this stuff, but I can certainly empathize with the psychological need to do so after 8 long years of the American Nightmare exposing itself in public and upsetting everyone... instead of dressing up in its friendly fascist finest and making everyone (who matters) feel goood.


My take? The folks who were going to leave the Troof Movement if a Democrat was elected probably already left the movement back during the primaries. The rest are not going anywhere. The good news is that the growth phase of the movement in the US is over. It was a lot easier to sell paranoia about Bush when you could combine it with the conspiracy theories already popular on the left about Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004; it's a harder task when you've got the '08 election as the backdrop.