It was one thing when President Obama reversed himself
last month by announcing that he would appeal the Second Circuit's
ruling that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) compelled disclosure
of various photographs of detainee abuse sought by the ACLU. Agree or
disagree with Obama's decision, at least the basic legal framework of
transparency was being respected, since Obama's actions amounted to
nothing more than a request that the Supreme Court review whether the
m
Presidents, and especially former presidents,
sometimes say things that will surprise you.
Like many other American
progressive-types (title for sake of argument), I voted for Obama and
hope every day he'll facilitate the change he promised. A big part of
the change progressives interpreted that promise to mean was to bring
an end to the Bush administration's "War on Terror." The White House no
longer uses the term -- but how much of a break has the new
administration really made?
The election of Barack Obama to the presidency may have caused some
Democratic members of Congress to think that the constitutional
questions raised by the executive excesses of the Bush-Cheney era had
been resolved, just it may have cause some Republicans members of
Congress to start thinking about executive accountability.
But this personality-defined approach our battered system of checks
and balances is a throwback to the days of powerful monarches, when the
people of a country waited for the day when a bad king was replaced by
a good king.
Several weeks ago, I noted
that unlike the Right -- which turned itself into a virtual cult of
uncritical reverence for George W. Bush especially during the first
several years of his administration -- large numbers of Bush critics
have been admirably willing to criticize Obama when he embraces the
very policies that prompted so much anger and controversy during the
Bush years.
