Go to the Obama wellhead

When I wrote “Shall we call it quits, America?” a comment by “nooman” asked: “I’m curious Bruce, what is is specifically that you think we should be standing behind this President on?”

Let’s look first at what’s happening with this Presidency.

1) Mr. Obama was elected, in part, because the middle class felt betrayed by unfair influences on federal government’s activities. That means the way lobbyists for special interests buy votes and thus steal our tax money and freedoms. Mr. Obama went to Washington partly on promises to change that and thus improve the lot of the middle class.

2) The President has launched a fight on our behalf with these special interests, largely multinational corporations which, in effect, nullify the wishes and needs of individual citizens by attempting to insulate incumbents from defeat at the polls. That’s what the President has gone to war against and he needs to mobilize and inspire the middle class to back him.

3) To do that requires facing off with the world’s best spin doctors, the people who have mastered media control and disinformation (meaning to deliberately mislead with partial or slanted or false information). I believe these special interests/multinationals control the nation’s mass media from the top, so the insertion of disinformation has a clear and easy path.

So back to “nooman’s” question: First way to stand behind the President is to find out what he is trying to accomplish by learning exactly what he’s saying. That’s the most important way we can support him: just listen to him without the disinformation filters.

Maybe it’s common knowledge by now that anything you get from mass media is filtered by definition (they have to filter it in order to present it). But what isn’t common knowledge is who is filtering and why. To find out, follow the money. See who owns mass media in this country. Look at their corporate interests. See if they have financial reasons to doctor the “news” in a way that favors multi-national corporations and other organizations with some bucks to be made from Washington.

Since you can’t be certain what the President is saying via mass media, then you have to go to the wellhead. The White House provides a thorough and user-friendly web site where you can read transcripts of every Presidential speech and reports on all Presidential activities. That’s where you can get your no-spin facts.

Go to The Briefing Room http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room for current Presidential announcements and statements of policy. For instance, today (2/4/10) there are five articles from yesterday’s White House news (Press Secretary briefing; meeting with governors on energy; steps to boost biofuels; memorandum on strategy on carbon capture and storage; and remarks by the President to Senate Democrats). On that same index page are links to eight categories of information covering Presidential policies, actions and legislation.

You can search the entire site by key word. From that, you can use one of several filters to arrive at the articles closest to your interests. If you want a no-spin report on what the President said and how he said it, type in any subject and get it straight.

Until you’re willing to do that much for own education, don’t even think you have a clue about what the President says, thinks, or does. So that’s the single best way to stand behind the President: Get your facts straight.