The Dumpster Fire of Obama's Moral Authority

[danriker]

86. This is a great post.

A terrific, logical post. If you aren't a lawyer, you think like one. I couldn't agree more that what the President should have done, and still could do, is just confess it all, and reveal it all, and then take steps to try to prevent it from happening. The first step should be simply to close Guantanamo. That is the way the U.S. regains respect and credibility. We don't achieve that by justifying, defending, and continuing to cover up actions that by any standard were illegal, immoral and just plain wrong.

I doubt we ever will see any prosecutions. You know that the only way prosecutions could have a solid moral -as well as legal - basis is if they started with those who gave the orders - those right at the top. And that is not going to happen, and maybe shouldn't happen. There is a dangerous precedent in such actions, even if they have validity in the specific cases.

There is a pattern to Obama's actions as President. In areas where he had personal knowledge or experience he acted with more confidence and independence. In areas where he has little knowledge, or experience, he relied on the insiders. He wouldn't take a chance on the outsiders, dissenters and rebels. He did that with Wall Street and the banks. He did it with the military. Even though he seemed to stand up to some in the military, he bought the surge idea, even though there was plenty of evidence that the reasons for the "success" of the surge in Iraq were not those being trumpeted, and there was little evidence that even similar conditions existed in Afghanistan. For example, during the Bush Administration, there were purges at the CIA of dissenters, of those who wouldn't follow the company line, or just those who had reputations for independence. Those were the people he should have brought back, not the ones who kicked them out.

Obama is not Lincoln. The man he should have modeled himself after was Theodore Roosevelt. He had no fear.