Considering what's at stake, can we put the Obama criticisms on hold until after the election?

[AnotherMcIntosh]

63. > In a choice between authoritarianism and democratic participation, I choose democratic participation.

The re-election of Obama is not the only thing at issue.

We also have Democratic Senatorial candidates up for election, as well as Democratic House candidates.

The election of such candidates is also important. To the extent that they analyze why we are voting for them, an effort to make our voices known - even on a web site such as this one - has some possibility of affecting their future actions.

As just one example, both presidential candidates support the latest pending job-transferring "free-trade" agreement. The terms of the agreement are being negotiated in secret, but Rmoney supports it and he has been rightfully criticized for getting rich while shipping jobs to foreign countries. The Senate Democrats have not yet approved of the pending "free-trade" agreement, but now some want us to be silent on the issue? If some of us make our opposition known, some Democratic Senators may vote against it.

Both presidential candidates support the adoption of another job-transferring "free-trade" agreement, which some are calling the NAFTA of the Pacific:

Trans-Pacific negotiations have been taking place throughout the Obama presidency. The deal is strongly supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the top lobbying group for American corporations. Obama's Republican opponent in the 2012 presidential elections, Mitt Romney, has urged the U.S. to finalize the deal as soon as possible.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/13/obama-trade-document-leak_n_1592593.html

Here's the let's-transfer-jobs-to-foreign-countries "free-trade" agreements that have been signed so far:

1994 - NAFTA

2001 - Jordan – United States Free Trade Agreement
2004 - Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement
2004 - Chile - United States Free Trade Agreement
2004 - Singapore – United States Free Trade Agreement
2005 - Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA; incl. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic)
2006 - Bahrain – United States Free Trade Agreement
2006 - Morocco - United States Free Trade Agreement
2006 - Oman – United States Free Trade Agreement
2007 - Peru – United States Trade Promotion Agreement

2011 - Panama - United States Trade Promotion Agreement
2011 - Colombia - United States Trade Promotion Agreement
2011 - Republic of Korea (South Korea) - United States Free Trade Agreement

If there is a better way to destroy what is left of the American middle-class than shipping even more jobs to foreign countries, what is it? And now, according to some, we are supposed to remain silent?

Obama is going to be re-elected. But we should remain silent? We don't elect dictators. We never have. It is not our job to remain silent. It is our responsibility in a participatory democracy to speak up.

If President Obama and his campaign staff want to do what is right for us, they will want us to make our views known. If they want nothing but cheerleaders, then they won't.