THE SINGULARITY (FOR COUNTERPUNCH)

1
As we approach the “Singularity”
Which means Obama’s swearing-in,
Will we regret his popularity?
Despite the odds that he would win,
He voted military spending
Until the ship of state’s upending;
Or thinking that he finally can
Beat down unbeat Afghanistan;
As well for trumping off-shore drilling;
More money surging to Iraq;
A bailout of the banker’s stock…
The thing that makes all this so chilling
Is when he really sparked some hope
He suckered us with rope-a-dope.
2
Why not begin with whom he’s hiring
To be his White House chief of staff-
Emanuel who needs rewiring
Or less caffeine and more decaff.
The man’s surcharged with irritation
As he stabs out in his vexation
At party members who must go
As traitors to Guantanamo.
This shows B.O. has no intention
Of ending the Iraqi war.
His chief of staff is so hardcore
He’d not let any sow dissension
About Iraq, Afghanistan.
Emanuel’s his triggerman.
3
Who think Obama’s left-of-center
Should think again and then some more.
You’ll find a sign says, “Do Not Enter”
Emanuel’s placed on the door
To his, Obama’s, Oval Office.
For Rahm Emanuel would off us
If he finds gender, class, and race
Attempting to get to first base
Impinging on his man Obama;
And even labor leaders who
Believe Obama will come through
To set things right and end their trauma
Of losing members (that’s their wish)
An outraged Rahm will say, “Go fish.”
4
And speaking of the left-of-center,
Joe Biden is a Democrat
Who is the perfect complementer
Of everything that is old hat.
For Biden has a reputation
For helping banks escape taxation;
And, at your risk, you’ll disregard
The Senator from Mastercard
Who authorized bankcard creditors
To keep you ever in their debt
By helping cut the safety net
Of bankruptcy. Now these predators
Are roaming free. Will it seem strange
When we’re the “ stock” in stock exchange?
5
And what about how B.O. voted
Renewing the Patriot Act,
A law that surely is devoted
To seeing privacy is whacked?
It gave telecommunications
Immunity for its quotations
Of everything we wrote or said.
But did The Man once hang his head
In shame at this domestic spying?
He voted cloture, offed debate
Which favored Bush, the chief of state.
If you should find this mystifying,
It shows the pols your naivete
Will never much get in their way.
6
And, too, there is the Wall Street crisis,
As Dems refuse to intervene
As Paulsen tries to sacrifice us?
Come on, B.O., you can come clean.
You voted to give up gazillions-
Then pared it back to hundred billions-
To bankers who were overstressed .
Why not vote them a stretch in EST?
Instead you keep on emphasizing
Republicans did it alone.
Except the Dems were in the zone
And voted for this plans devising
Including you, House, Senate leads.
You must believe we’re all jerkweeds.

7
And when the Court struck death in cases
In which no body lost its life,
Obama freaked and said disgrace is
When penalties of death aren’t rife.
He then denounced the Court’s decision
By heaping on it his derision
Agreeing with conservatives
But not with his God Who forgives.
Obama said he’d long supported
Expanding death for many crimes-
Which shows the man’s behind the times
When other countries think it sordid
As well his home state Illinois,
Except for Whitey’s good ole boy.
8
Or Lieberman, committee chairman,
Who spoke in favor of McCain
For President, “The finest airman
To be shot down. He knows the pain
Of servicemen and women fighting
To keep Iraq from reuniting,
While Barry might try some glasnost.”
For this Joe gets to keep his post
As chairman of Homeland Security?
And B.O. helped the turncoat out!
This takes the cake without a doubt.
It guarantees that change’s purity
Will be diluted with the views
Of those who have the red state blues.
9
And last but far from least there’s Hillary
Who is Obama’s nominee
For State if she can escapes the pillory
And can get loose and fancy free
Of husband Bill as her advisor.
She’d rather be his ostracizer.
But Bill knows how to hold his own
(Though feels it more when not alone).
But be that how it may, Obama
Will have his hands full-neocons
And other Clinton woebegones
Will put him in a freaking trauma.
The only thing that’s more inane
Would be to bring in John McCain.

10
I could go on and on forever-
Suffice it’s Clinton 3.0.
We voted for the Land of Never
Where people who have all the dough,
Like CEOs of corporations,
Are still in charge of operations
To keep the good old USA
The planetary beast of prey.
But it’s a stay of execution-
We want to be led by the hand
And taken into Wonderland.
But when we see that’s no solution,
We’ll give up groveling for sops
And start again and build co-ops.