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The Hill recently reported that President Trump deported about a quarter less (152,000) Mexicans between January and December of 2017 than President Obama deported (205,000 Mexicans) during the same period in 2016. However, there is clearly much more foment and anger about President Trump’s draconian immigration policies than there was over President Obama’s. The reasons why this is so says much about the impoverished nature of our political system and the dangers of focusing one’s political rage on the person of Donald Trump rather than on the issues.

In considering this matter, one must recall that President Obama, though now beloved and romanticized by the liberal U.S. electorate, was in fact the “Deporter-in-Chief,” having deported over 2.5 million people from the U.S. during his tenure as President – that is, more than all of the Presidents before him combined! And, yet, there was very little hand-wringing about this, including from many who are now up in arms about Trump’s deportation policies.

There was almost no opposition to Obama’s military adventures either. While these adventures, and the drone attacks and bombing raids which went with them, were numerous, the one that stands out is Obama’s participation in the destruction of Libya, which has not only caused untold suffering for the people of Libya, but which also unleashed terrorists upon Northern Africa and the Middle East; played a key role in causing the mass migration from these regions to Europe, and thereby empowering right-wing, nationalist political forces in Europe; and which has resulted in slaves being openly sold in public markets in Libya. This military action was, in short, a grave crime against Libya and the rest of the world. And yet, where was and is the outrage from what used to be the peace movement in the U.S.?

Obama was also given a nearly-complete pass in regards to his substantial support for the Saudi’s one-sided assault upon Yemen -- an assault which will surely result in the deaths of millions of Yemenis. Again, where was the opposition? And, what’s more, where is the opposition to Trump’s continuation of this policy? Again, there is none. In this instance, it appears that because liberals gave Obama a free pass on wantonly killing and starving Yeminis, they are giving Trump one as well.

The double standards in regards to domestic matters are equally disturbing. Thus, while there is good cause to oppose the Republicans’ assault on the more positive aspects of “Obama Care,” there is also good cause to be very critical of the bad aspects of that plan and to continue the call for universal, single-payer health care. Instead, most liberals now portray “Obama Care” as some kind of sacred cow even though it is deeply flawed and was largely designed to further enrich private insurance companies. Thus, while this plan did result in millions more Americans being insured, much of this insurance is next-to-worthless, with huge deductibles before dollar one is paid out by the insurance company. Indeed, just yesterday, a good friend of mine who is an adjunct professor proudly showed me his bronze level insurance card which costs him $150 a month and which carries an annual deductible of nearly $7000. In other words, unless he has a catastrophic injury, he will never get a dime’s worth of benefit out of this insurance plan which he is paying hard-earned money for.

Still, Obama is held up as some type of great reformer even though he was, in truth, to the right of Richard Nixon – who, the by the way, was willing to sign on to a national health care plan.

The problem, at heart, is that we have a two-party political system with both parties now dedicated to wiping out the last vestiges of the New Deal and with both parties wedded to unending military conflict which makes any social welfare program impossible to fund in any case. And, instead of fighting these retrograde policies of both parties, liberals seem largely content to focus their energies on electing any Democratic President and supporting, if just tacitly, any policies he or she chooses to carry out, even if they look a lot like Donald Trump’s.

If there is any chance of reviving American democracy and re-creating the American Republic, citizens of good will must focus on principles rather than on party and personality, and oppose war, Empire, racism, xenophobia and policies which continue to widen the already-huge gap between rich and poor, regardless of which party happens to be pushing such policies. Focusing all of one’s rage on Donald Trump and accepting any Democratic President who wins (or, in truth, buys) the nomination, will not fix the dire problems confronting this country and the world.