An article by Eugene Puryear, the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s nominee for the Vice Presidency, was published today criticizing Barack Obama as a supporter of “the basic tenets of the capitalist establishment,” and taking the Democratic presumptive to task for his stance on issues dear to the Left (and others):

He has gone out of his way to support the overall foreign policies of imperialism. He promises to preserve a substantial military force in both Iraq and Afghanistan, has threatened to start a war with Iran, and pledged unconditional support to the Israeli apartheid state. He has pledged to continue the decades-old Washington policy of blockade and counterrevolution against Cuba. He has criticized Bush for being ineffective and counter-productive in stopping the leftist tide that took throughout Latin America during his years in office.

After a New York City court let Sean Bell’s killers go, Obama issued a statement that he “respected the decision.” When over 50,000 Black people and their allies descended on Jena, Louisiana, to call for the freedom of six teenagers facing Jim Crow “justice,” Obama was at a fundraiser with big money backers. When his own pastor of 20 years had the temerity to point out the exploitative and racist history of this country, Obama ran as fast as he could in the other direction, and ultimately disowned him.

For Puryear, the Obama campaign is mearly another chapter in the history of “bourgeois elections” and the Democratic Party’s history of pandering to progressive elements:

The bourgeois elections have always played a critical role in channeling this discontent into acceptable avenues. In fact, the illusion of hope and change—through the peaceful and seemingly easy method of going to the ballot box—is the very purpose of the electoral cycle. It exists to create excitement, to give the appearance of debate, and to make working people feel like they have power to rid themselves of bad leaders. Without this power—say, perhaps, if Bush had proclaimed himself president for life—people would rebel immediately.

Democratic politicians like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Eugene McCarthy, George McGovern, and Jimmy Carter have each played a similar role as Obama at different stages of U.S. history. They adopted certain forms and aesthetics of the left, and spoke to the genuine desires of the country’s working class. But they represented the continued rule of a social order based on imperialism and exploitation. The difference with Obama is that he is being used not to channel a vibrant left, but instead to preempt one. As such, he does not come with a package of concessions for workers or the oppressed communities.

Obama provides the best of both worlds to the ruling class. He is well within the political mainstream, but can give the impression of being the outsider. Indeed, this was his primary advantage against Hillary Clinton, who he painted as a Washington insider corrupted by years of working around lobbyists and “special interests.” This is pure demagogy. Despite all the rhetoric about making a campaign on 25-dollar donations, Obama’s campaign is financially supported by the same special interests as Clinton and even McCain.

Having so indicted the electoral process, a clarification regarding the “revolutionary” party’s participation is given:

Our role is to represent and reinvigorate from within the electoral arena, and in the streets, the mass movements against unemployment and for workers’ rights, for immigrant rights, against the war, and to strengthen all small community struggles being waged across the country. The aim of our campaign is to promote every victory—small and large—to analyze every setback, and above all to provide organization to our class. In short, we aim to spark the power and potential, tapped and untapped, into a united mass movement.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation is running its electoral campaign not for vanity’s sake, and not to carve out some particular niche. Our aim is to be in as many states as possible, to speak in every forum or debate we can attend, to help people see, through concrete experience, that real change is possible.