Make Obama Do What He Promised - Headlines 1/14/09

[Caro]

Politics and Media Headlines 1/14/09

The Heretik

Top Bush Official Says Detainee Was Tortured (American Constitution Society)
A senior Bush administration official says a GuantánamoBay detainee was tortured, The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward reports. Susan J. Crawford, a top Pentagon official overseeing the military commissions told Woodward that interrogation methods used on Mohammed al-Qahtani, accused of helping to plot the 2001 terrorist attacks, amounted to torture. According to The Post, the techniques included “sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold ….” Crawford said, “We tortured Qahtani. His treatment met the legal definition of torture.

Whitehouse: If Obama doesn’t investigate Bush’s crimes, I will. (Think Progress)
President-elect Obama this week said his team was in the middle of “evaluating” Bush administration policies to see whether a criminal investigation would be worthwhile. NPR reports that Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) says that he understands Obama’s reluctance to pursue investigations but that he may take matters into his own hands: “…‘I think we in Congress have an independent responsibility, and I fully intend to discharge that responsibility…’” In a 487-page report out today recapping Bush’s “imperial presidency,” House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) recommends that “the incoming Administration finally begin an independent criminal review of activities of the outgoing Administration.”
Glad to see that SOME folks have some gumption, and some respect for the rule of law.—Caro

Criticisms, political pressure and Barack Obama (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
Barack Obama's announced intentions on ABC News this Sunday regarding Guantanamo sparked substantial objections from civil liberties and human rights advocates. The result of those objections? From (Tuesday’s) New York Times: “President-elect Barack Obama plans to issue an executive order on his first full day in office directing the closing of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, people briefed by Obama transition officials said Monday.”

(The) new Guantanamo announcements are very far from a guarantee that Obama will do the right thing here. Still, these leaked responses to Sunday's criticisms are an important step forward, and they underscore the reasons why it is so vital to express criticism of Obama when he deserves it. Politicians, by definition, respond to political pressure. Those who decide that it's best to keep quiet and simply trust in the goodness and just nature of their leader are certain to have their political goals ignored. It's always better -- far better -- for a politician to know that he's being scrutinized closely and will be praised and supported only when his actions warrant that, and will be criticized and opposed when they don't.
To get the results we want, we have to “make him do it.” It’s what we had to do when he was my senator.—Caro

Obama Should Act Like He Won (by Thomas Frank)
As (former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay ) recounted in his 2007 memoirs, Republicans under his leadership learned "to start every policy initiative from as far to the political right as we could." The effect was to "move the center farther to the right," drawing the triangulating Clinton along with it. President-elect Obama can learn something from Mr. DeLay's confession: Centrism is a chump's game. Democrats have massive majorities these days not because they waffle hither and yon but because their historic principles have been vindicated by events. This is their moment. Let the other side do the triangulating.

Obama dines with right wingers at George Will’s house. (Think Progress)
(Tuesday night) around 6:30 pm ET, Barack Obama arrived at the home of conservative columnist George Will to dine with a host of right-wing luminaries. Brimming with giddiness, pool reporter Kenneth Bazinet of the New York Daily News reported: “…This is for real, folks. The bloggers are going to love this one.”
Not at all. Obamabot bloggers find no fault. Think Progress, however, is doing a pretty good job of being objective about Obama.—Caro

Why Obama is Causing a Liberal Freakout (by James Pethokoukis at Capital Commerce, U.S. News & World Report)
(I)t's Obama's $800 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that will be ground zero in (the) coming liberal internecine battle. "Way too much Reagan, not nearly enough FDR," griped some key liberals about a plan that would, in addition to the tax cuts, still provide a whopping half-trillion dollars over two years in government spending for infrastructure, healthcare, education, clean energy, grants to states, and aid to lower-income and unemployed folks…

But liberals shouldn't fear -- nor conservatives be reassured -- that Obama is somehow morphing into "Reagan with a human face," to rework an old Marxist chestnut. Or another Clinton. Obama is still going to push for a dramatic government expansion into healthcare, demand higher taxes once the economy is in gear, launch a new wave of business regulation and spend hundreds of billions on infrastructure, both green and grey. Their sort of "change" is still on the way, it's just going to take a bit longer than they expected. Like Obama said on Election Night: "We may not get there in one year or even one term ..."
Well, we can HOPE.—Caro

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Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[wyldwolf]

1. SPAM!!

[Runcible Spoon]

2. so it's spam if it's remotely skeptical, but it's good reasearch when it is full of praise

gotcha.

[wyldwolf]

3. I was just kidding

[Runcible Spoon]

5. sorry :P

:hug:

[mrreowwr_kittty]

4. The OP has been tempering her Obama hatred lately

Due to having been alerted on numerous times for previous posts. And at least she isn't linking to PUMA sites on this one like she usually does.

There's a history here.

[Pirate Smile]

6. Linking to No Quarter is a bit of a Red Flag. That was yesterday.

[Runcible Spoon]

7. regardless, there are some worthy links there

There are a few exceptions I make for my own personal amusement, but I usually don't spend much time researching posters' history and try to take their posts face-value.

FWIW, I think it is more toxic to pile on people who express criticism than it is to pile on Obama, who is after all a politician who knew very well what this job entailed. PUMA is very toxic and I would certainly call anyone out for posting anything from them.