Barack Obama: Just Another Corporate Candidate

by Joshua Frank

One cannot scale the ranks of the Democratic establishment without selling out to Washington insiders, and presidential aspirant Barack Obama is quite adept at playing the game. Since announcing his candidacy in early February, Obama has raised millions of dollars from corporate fat-cats and multinational corporations. While the young candidate has leaned heavily on law firms to which he has professional connections -- he’s also not been afraid to dip in to the trough of Big Business. And it’s a sure sign Obama is a real contender for his party’s nomination.
When Howard Dean’s campaign began to gain momentum during the 2004 elections, the former Vermont governor had not flipped through his party’s corporate black book, and instead relied heavily on the grassroots to provide fuel for his presidential bid. The party’s elite, nervous and unsure that Dean could be one of them, taught the naïve doctor a harsh lesson: the establishment quietly sacked Dean for America because he had not accepted the way business is done in Washington.
Insiders were brought on at safe distance from John Kerry’s campaign, and a group, founded by Democratic fundraiser David Jones, ran vile ads attacking Dean during the Iowa caucus. Moderate Democrats labeled Dean a radical despite his conservative tenure in Vermont. John Edwards called him unelectable. The DLC was against him. Soon Dean was crushed at the polls and never recovered after his screaming speech following the disaster in Iowa. The elite had prevailed with Kerry and Edwards. The Deaniacs’ hopes were crushed. And it now seems Obama has vowed to make the same mistake. LINK