From a liberal dystopian perspective, the new President is beginning to look a lot like the old one, when it comes to secrecy and weakening constitutional precepts of due process. Candidate Obama pledged a restoration of civil liberty and a return to the rule of law. But despite rhetoric on the campaign trail, civil libertarians point out in key areas; the new President is scoring even lower marks than George Bush when it comes to defending civil liberty and due process.
While the administration continues to claim it is committed to “reviewing†on a case by case basis the prior administrations denial of due process. Those with law degrees who know how to read the fine print, point out Barack Obama’s justice department, actually agrees George Bush acted appropriately in suspending habeas corpus for the duration of a war on terror that will never end. But it gets worse, This President claims the prior administration failed to exercise the full power of executive authority and would like the courts to acknowledge, for the record. Barack Obama as President Posses the power to arrest and detain anyone, anywhere at any time without charge or reason in perpetuity. Oh by the way, did we mention the current President is a Harvard educated lawyer who spent twelve years as a professor of constitutional law?
President Obama claims the plenary power to suspend parts of the constitution related to your rights, based on an obscure and universally repudiated bit of legal hocus pocus called the theory of the unitary executive. I say hocus pocus because the power does not exist and every President since Honest Abe has been called on it when they trot it out as justification for breaking the law. But provided he avoids the temptation to detain his political critics, President Obama like FDR and Lincoln, will be long out of office before the courts rule against him.
Which is why President’s who develop the habit of ignoring the constitution when it serves a political purpose, tend to stop taking calls or advice from supporters who become critical. When George Bush was President, MSNBC became the network to watch if you were interested in discovering the multiplicity of ways in which a sitting President can on a daily basis, abuse the constitution and get away with it. In the opinion of many respected legal scholars, He and the senior members of his administration were little better than unindicted war criminals.
But since the election of Barack Obama the folks over at MSNBC have decided civil liberty and due process, while worth the occasional muted mention are really issues that “distract†the President from the task of fixing the mess George Bush created. So the man whose focus in the long democratic primary race was to no little degree based on the premise he alone stood firm against the rush to war, is rushing to deploy troops. The fellow who swore again and again during the general election a vote for him was a down payment on a government dedicated to openness and transparency, is becoming the master of obfuscation and beltway pettifogging.
Stark reality acknowledges that few Americans actually give a rat’s ass about the civil rights of others or the dead children of other parents sent to fight wars based on lies in faraway places. But politics and elections are all about perception, It is becoming evident the impression Barack Obama sought to cultivate amongst a small block of voters who’s core issue was civil liberty and the rule of law was simply political rhetoric, But the inherent risk in professing rhetoric as future policy is the depth of blowback you face during the next election cycle.
While it’s true the GOP is currently wandering aimlessly in the political wilderness unable to colace around a single message or party elder, Come the 2012 midterms if President Obama continues to pursue the repudiated politics and policies of George Bush the republicans will retake the congress and his eventual legacy in legislative terms will remind people more of Bill Clinton than Abraham Lincoln.
That’s my view, yours may be different
5 users commented in " Obama Embracing Bush Rendition, Secrets Policy "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThis surprises WHO again? Obama is getting a quick lesson in tough decisions. MSNBC continues to be a liberal lackey, instead of trusted news source.
As for the war built on lies comment, Hundreds witnessed first hand the use of chemical agents on Kurds, so I am unsure what lies you refer to. Millions more saw the video of the aftermath. (I suppose now you would say the Holocaust did not happen?)
When the Conservatives rally around their next true leader, the Democrats will get buried. Not one minute sooner. It cannot happen soon enough if we are to save this country.
By the way, just for the record, Saddam had ample opportunity to come clean about his WMD program. For 12 years he stalled, and hid it. If anyone is to blame for the US attacking that country one need look NO FURTHER than Saddam.
Just because President Bush did not show those weapons on Prime Time television, does not mean they were not found and secured. Ask yourself, if you had the task of securing very dangerous weapons that you knew terrorists would kill to possess, would you advertise you found them? The answer is NO.
Perhaps those weapons were not there for us to find, but President Bush was not willing to take that gamble. For that, in my mind he is a bigger HERO…
I went looking for the videos you referenced found them filed along old footage of Donald Rumsfeld kissing the dictators back ring when Saddam was our Buddy.
Oh by the way do you want to guess where he got some of the proprietary tech required to launch those chemical attacks.
But I digress, you would be amongst the few, the proud, the intellectually challenged, who still embrace the myth that “the world is a better place since we took Saddam out”
I speculate the vast majority of folks who lost loved ones are thankful the ranks of people still beguiled by the delusion that was George Bush’s foreign policy dwindles daily.
the first poster here is a full blown moron. and thats one of the many reasons we are in the mess we are in, currently, in the USA. its due to the low IQ crowd and the mass of non-critical thinkers in this country.
congrats, wayneraltman, your offically an idiot. and not even bush would be able to find your brain, just like he couldnt find the WMDs.
“you would be amongst the few, the proud, the intellectually challenged, who still embrace the myth that “the world is a better place since we took Saddam out””
I count my fellow Israelis as the few, the proud, and the still living, thanks to the fact that Saddam is no longer providing a $25,000 payment to the families of homicide bombers.
Your snarky, arrogant, elitist responses are disgusting. You could try engaging in rational and adult discourse.
The mere fact that you boil down geopolitics to whether or not “the world is a better place since we took Saddam out”” shows how utterly small-minded, parochial, provincial, and clueless you really are.
Robert said “Your snarky, arrogant, elitist responses are disgusting. You could try engaging in rational and adult discourse”
Bob this is the Blogosphere, Rational and adult discourse is two doors down at CNN and MSNBC.
As for the conflict between Jews and Arabs, I support a two State policy well aware the Arab people will never agree to live in peace which means both sides will be killing each other when my great great grand kids are suggesting you all ought to put aside your stupid religious differences and get along.
But since both sides still seek revenge for family killed when my great great grand Dad was alive, I do not hold out much hope.
and yet after hundreds of years of hate, the Irish and English manged to settle much of their differences in Ireland, pity so many children had to die before the Adults achieved that rational discourse you spoke of