Sean (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} jackslack) wrote,@ 2009-04-06 06:24:00 |
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Test #2 for Obama
So far, Barrack Obama has done well on few metrics, to be honest. After an early flurry of excellent moves, he's retreated heavily into centrism. It's not all his fault – His own party has been doing their best to undermine him and there are a lot of people who don't want him to do the right thing. But still, he's the president. This is the job, hard as it is. That said, he has failed most, in my opinion, in the field of human rights. This is the area I'm most passionate about,
As you may remember, I was bitterly disappointed when he failed his first test. Well, now he has his second one.
The basics are this: There were a long number of 'torture memos', the legal correspondance the former White House engaged in trying to create legal cover for itself in its human rights abuses. A number of these, five if I remember correctly, have been disclosed. And this is to Obama's credit, since those reports did create some embarassment and reveal much. But they primarily revealed damaging information on the Bush DoJ, more than anyone else, and since Yoo et al. pretty much have little power anymore, it was an easier task than these last three are, which look certain to embarass at least two and possibly all four of the following: the CIA, the former White House, the US congress and senate, and the USA's allies. As such, there is now a major amount of opposition to disclosing the memos.
Which also happens to be the right thing to do. And now it's pretty much up to Obama.
If he does disclose them, he'll go a long way in my opinion. If he caves? Bastard. Forever.
ps. There was also some discussion about whether or not liberals are less likely to play 'follow the leader' than conservatives in the comments of my last post. Well, it wasn't just me observing the quick leftish knockback against Obama, Glenn Greenwald's been noting it too, with the same approval I have. Economically, we have people like Krugman blasting Obama for not committing enough to the recovery effort. In human rights, we have people like Glenn Greenwald pointing out his faults. There is already a lot more criticism of Obama from his own side than there ever was in Bush's whole first term.
So far, Barrack Obama has done well on few metrics, to be honest. After an early flurry of excellent moves, he's retreated heavily into centrism. It's not all his fault – His own party has been doing their best to undermine him and there are a lot of people who don't want him to do the right thing. But still, he's the president. This is the job, hard as it is. That said, he has failed most, in my opinion, in the field of human rights. This is the area I'm most passionate about,
As you may remember, I was bitterly disappointed when he failed his first test. Well, now he has his second one.
The basics are this: There were a long number of 'torture memos', the legal correspondance the former White House engaged in trying to create legal cover for itself in its human rights abuses. A number of these, five if I remember correctly, have been disclosed. And this is to Obama's credit, since those reports did create some embarassment and reveal much. But they primarily revealed damaging information on the Bush DoJ, more than anyone else, and since Yoo et al. pretty much have little power anymore, it was an easier task than these last three are, which look certain to embarass at least two and possibly all four of the following: the CIA, the former White House, the US congress and senate, and the USA's allies. As such, there is now a major amount of opposition to disclosing the memos.
Which also happens to be the right thing to do. And now it's pretty much up to Obama.
If he does disclose them, he'll go a long way in my opinion. If he caves? Bastard. Forever.
ps. There was also some discussion about whether or not liberals are less likely to play 'follow the leader' than conservatives in the comments of my last post. Well, it wasn't just me observing the quick leftish knockback against Obama, Glenn Greenwald's been noting it too, with the same approval I have. Economically, we have people like Krugman blasting Obama for not committing enough to the recovery effort. In human rights, we have people like Glenn Greenwald pointing out his faults. There is already a lot more criticism of Obama from his own side than there ever was in Bush's whole first term.
