Obama's speech this morning, like most Obama speeches, made pretty points in rhetorically effective ways about the Constitution, our values, transparency, oversight, the state secrets privilege, and the rule of law. But his actions, in many critical cases, have repeatedly run afoul of those words. And while his well-crafted speech can have a positive impact on our debate and contained some welcome and rare arguments from a high-level political leader -- changes in the terms of the debate are prerequisites to changes in policy and the value of rhetoric shouldn't be understated -- they're still just words until his actions become consistent with them.
Worse, Obama repeatedly invoked the paradigm of The War on Terror to justify some extreme policies -- see my post of earlier today on this practice -- beginning with his rather startling declaration that he will work to create a system of "preventive detention" for accused Terrorists without a trial, in order to keep locked up indefinitely people who, in his words, "cannot be prosecuted yet who pose a clear danger to the American people." In other words, even as he paid repeated homage to "our values" and "our timeless ideals," he demanded the power (albeit with unspecified judicial and Congressional oversight) to keep people in prison with no charges or proof of any crime having been committed, all while emphasizing that this "war" will continue for at least ten years. Compare the power of indefinite, "preventive" detention he's seeking to this:
Read on...
Peacenik is getting tired of Obama saying one thing and doing another. This analysis by Glenn Greenwald is good. But the networks' coverage of Cheney's response to Obama illustrates how hopeless the state of civil liberties are in the U.S.A. And btw, why is Clinton even debating George Bush in Toronto next week? Who is sponsoring that atrocity? Why is George Bush even being allowed into Canada? Peacenik hopes he gets arrested and charged with war crimes.
Worse, Obama repeatedly invoked the paradigm of The War on Terror to justify some extreme policies -- see my post of earlier today on this practice -- beginning with his rather startling declaration that he will work to create a system of "preventive detention" for accused Terrorists without a trial, in order to keep locked up indefinitely people who, in his words, "cannot be prosecuted yet who pose a clear danger to the American people." In other words, even as he paid repeated homage to "our values" and "our timeless ideals," he demanded the power (albeit with unspecified judicial and Congressional oversight) to keep people in prison with no charges or proof of any crime having been committed, all while emphasizing that this "war" will continue for at least ten years. Compare the power of indefinite, "preventive" detention he's seeking to this:
Read on...
Peacenik is getting tired of Obama saying one thing and doing another. This analysis by Glenn Greenwald is good. But the networks' coverage of Cheney's response to Obama illustrates how hopeless the state of civil liberties are in the U.S.A. And btw, why is Clinton even debating George Bush in Toronto next week? Who is sponsoring that atrocity? Why is George Bush even being allowed into Canada? Peacenik hopes he gets arrested and charged with war crimes.
