Stoopid Stuff

Say it Ain't So, BHO!

It is perfectly reasonable to start with the premise that you can't make any real judgements about a political leader during the campaign, but rather must simply wait to see their actual actions and behaviors once elected. After all, if they lose the election they never get the chance to demonstrate their political worldview in office, so they might tend to exaggerate their ideology (or lack thereof) and the benefits that might accrue from the leadership thus motivated. But it is not completely unreasonable, or even terribly naive, to form some set of expectations from the campaign rhetoric, and to believe these expectations might actually come close to defining the political bearings of a given candidate.

Which brings us, inevitably, to Barack Obama. This is indeed, all apologies to John Steinbeck, truly The Winter of My Disappointment. It's not that Obama's political rhetoric in office doesn't match up neatly with his political rhetoric on the campaign trail, no, he continues to offer an uplifting message of hope and change. He even issues edicts and Executive Orders that seem to lead us all out of the wilderness of lawlessness and autocratic excess.

But here's the thing. And it is a VERY large thing. If we say bush/cheney took us a thousand meters off course, to steer back six hundred meters will not suffice. As long as Obama, and his motley collection of Clintonistas and Republican "realists" will not take us all the way back to a place where the stain of blood and hate on the fabric of American values is bleached away, they are only hanging draperies over the abattoir door. I've become more and more concerned with the widening gap between the Barack Obama we elected and the man now in power. He speaks of openness, of transparency, of a return to American Values, of an America that doesn't accept the false choice between our ideals and our safety.

And then he equivocates. And then some of his cabinet appointees say one thing, and some say another. His SecDef is a Bush appointee, who seems determined to keep troops in Iraq forever, damn the SOFA. His CIA Director backed down when a congenital mental defective in the Senate claimed that there was no evidence that America had tortured detainees. What. The. Fuck? How about just standing up and using, oh, I don't know, HONESTY to point out the evidence that is actually available in overwhelming, disgusting abundance? He continues a program of unilateral military strikes against an American Ally, on their sovereign soil. And all we have to show for the twin centerpieces of campaign rhetoric, ending the American occupation of Iraq and closing the obscenity at Guantanamo Bay are vague "statements", promises to "study the matter", and, worst of all, transparent plays for more time, so more people can die in the name of, well, that's a problem isn't it? Nothing. They can die for NOTHING. And I suppose it's worth mentioning that all the indications are that NONE of the worst criminal excesses of the bush/cheney years will ever be investigated, let alone prosecuted. We elected this man for what, exactly?

And then, today, it gets an order of magnitude worse. There was an opportunity for real justice, an opportunity to say what happened and let the chips fall where they may. Extraordinary Rendition victim and continuing Guantanamo captive (um, all charges dismissed, by the way) Binyam Mohamed sued the US over his horrendous treatment at the hands of Egyptian security agents on behalf of the US and British governments. The bush/cheney cabal got the case thrown out by declaring the entire sordid affair (they cut his PENIS with razor blades! Proud to be an American yet?) classified under the State Secrets Act. One wonders if the secret is Mr. Mohamed's dick or the damage done to it. But I digress. He appealed to the 9th circuit court, and the case was heard today. And it was a WONDERFUL opportunity for the Obama Justice department to say "yeah, this guy got treated horribly, and it was unconstitutional, and unAmerican, and we accept at face value his position and want to work WITH him in the name of justice". Or something. Or ANYTHING.

Nope. The Obama administration, without hesitation, took the EXACT same position the Bush/Cheney criminal cabal took. State Secrets. No evidence allowed. Shut it down.

I don't know what I hoped for, but it damn sure wasn't this. If Obama doesn't find a way back to his constitutional law roots, and do it damn quick, then we can put an end to this whole conversation. The America we grew up with, the America we read about in our history books, the America that made us proud, that made us, goddamit, different, with the values and the rule of law and the commitment to the Constitution no longer exists. Bush and his henchmen wounded it, and our great hope Obama killed it. And we can try to figure out how to live in something less than a democracy, with something short of freedom.

Hell, they do it in China, and they even did it in East Germany. We'll be OK. We just won't be Americans.

posted by mikey @ 2:10 PM