Obama's embracing -- even while denying the existence of -- U.S. colonialism is crucial. Al Franken in his own backhanded way raised the issue of coming to terms with this in his satire "Why Not Me" about the making and unmaking of his presidency. In his inaugural address, Franken apologizes to the decedents of slaves, Native Americans, women and Japanese Americans for the multiple crimes of the United States. He then falls into great illness and depression, the burdens of the office being too great.
(I reluctantly cite Franken here. He is a joke -- was for the invasion of Iraq and yet was tapped by the "Air America" network after the invasion of Iraq as the great progressive voice. Even the choice of name tells the story -- "Air America". Just when the concept of nationalism desperately needed to be challenged, the new "progressive" network emphasized nationalism. Franken also swiped without attribution material from FAIR's book on Limbaugh for his book own book on Limbaugh -- and most of what he swiped happened to be my material.)
[originally published at husseini.org on Feb. 13, 2009]