Please Tell Me More About How It Was Obama Who Failed To Close Gitmo

[Igel]

19. That's not where the problem lies.

Obama also promised to eliminate the deficit.

In both cases, he made promises that resonated strongly with some portion of the electorate, promises made to encourage support, and promises that he surely knew he was in no position to unilaterally implement.

As a senator, he knew the role Congress played, even leaving out his stint as faculty at a law school. What he may not have known was why some of the Gitmo inmates were there. But it was either an act of shameless political expediency, partisan ill-will, or intellectual arrogance that kept him from thinking, "Gee, perhaps the current president really does know something I don't know." (Or perhaps two or all three of those.) Instead of closing it as intended, his best solution was to transfer them--knowing that suddenly on US soil a different set of principles would apply to them (but not openly discussing this at the time).

Even now Obama is blamed for not closing Gitmo either because people want him to be all-powerful or can't conceive that he would have knowingly made a promise he knew he couldn't keep. Even worse would be to say he made a promise he honestly thought he'd unilaterally have the authority to keep, a promise that would highlight some semblance of ignorance or hubris.

Same with the deficit. He chortles that the deficit is finally down, after take hikes, a stimulus 4x greater than what he tolerated in early 2008, 5 years of economic recovery, and even sequestration ... down to the record deficit under Bush II. Getting rid of the deficit in X number of years, as he promised, was crazy-stupid talk for crazy-stupid voters. Yet many bought it.

They don't want a president, they want a god, a symbol, a savior. Instead, they get a man.