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Bush Hasn't Completely Left Office Yet...
Feb. 24th, 2009 04:15 pmOver the past couple weeks, I've been getting steadily hotter under the collar about Obama's apparent trend towards upholding the worst abuses of the Bush administration.
The Obama administration, although it has ordered the closure of Guantanamo Bay's prisons, has blocked efforts of prisoners at Bagram, Afghanistan to secure their liberty. Justice Department lawyers in the past month have filed briefs to block lawsuits over illegal wiretapping, torture at Guantanamo and at other bases, and most recently the release of Bush-era emails. Obama has repeatedly expressed reluctance to prosecute Bush and his cronies, and new Attorney General Eric Holder essentially bought his Cabinet post by promising not to investigate.
Put all of this together, and the early picture coming out is that Obama sees nothing wrong with most of what Dubya did in office.
However, one commenter on a news article I read today put things into perspective: namely, that the Obama administration has not yet replaced much of anyone at Justice, or elsewhere in the executive-run bureaucracy, below cabinet-level posts. The Bush appointees are, by and large, still in office... and still trying to drive forward their erstwhile boss's dictatorial agenda.
In Charlie Savage's excellent book Takeover: the Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy, Savage incidentally describes how George W. Bush needed almost a full year to get all the offices filled in the Department of Justice. The infamous John Yoo didn't get his job until July 2001, and he didn't get a permanent boss until after 9/11. In the interim, Clinton-era lawyers kept on about their jobs, until they were replaced or driven out.
Right now, Obama and his advisors are focused to the exclusion of all else on the economy. He's handed healthcare, Guantanamo and Afghanistan off to committees, producing the illusion of action while he puts his main effort on things like the national jobs stimulus and the upcoming efforts on entitlement reforms and homeowner assistance. It is possible- just possible- that many of the pro-Bush rulings, legal filings, and other actions coming out from Obama's White House are doing so without his knowledge or agreement.
So, despite my deep and growing misgivings, I'm going to wait a bit longer.
But if Obama continues to block investigation of Bush- if he continues to uphold Presidential secrecy, unlimited power to spy on Americans, renditions to nations that use torture, and indefinite imprisonment without the writ of habeas corpus...
... if he continues down that road, with no change, then Obama should be impeached and removed from office.
Of course it won't happen. The Democrats won't take out one of their own (just as the Republicans wouldn't), and the Republicans won't go after him for any of these things because they'd have to admit that what Bush did before Obama was impeachable.
For now... before I can believe in change, I need to SEE SOME ACTUAL CHANGE.
Get on the ball, Obama.
The Obama administration, although it has ordered the closure of Guantanamo Bay's prisons, has blocked efforts of prisoners at Bagram, Afghanistan to secure their liberty. Justice Department lawyers in the past month have filed briefs to block lawsuits over illegal wiretapping, torture at Guantanamo and at other bases, and most recently the release of Bush-era emails. Obama has repeatedly expressed reluctance to prosecute Bush and his cronies, and new Attorney General Eric Holder essentially bought his Cabinet post by promising not to investigate.
Put all of this together, and the early picture coming out is that Obama sees nothing wrong with most of what Dubya did in office.
However, one commenter on a news article I read today put things into perspective: namely, that the Obama administration has not yet replaced much of anyone at Justice, or elsewhere in the executive-run bureaucracy, below cabinet-level posts. The Bush appointees are, by and large, still in office... and still trying to drive forward their erstwhile boss's dictatorial agenda.
In Charlie Savage's excellent book Takeover: the Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy, Savage incidentally describes how George W. Bush needed almost a full year to get all the offices filled in the Department of Justice. The infamous John Yoo didn't get his job until July 2001, and he didn't get a permanent boss until after 9/11. In the interim, Clinton-era lawyers kept on about their jobs, until they were replaced or driven out.
Right now, Obama and his advisors are focused to the exclusion of all else on the economy. He's handed healthcare, Guantanamo and Afghanistan off to committees, producing the illusion of action while he puts his main effort on things like the national jobs stimulus and the upcoming efforts on entitlement reforms and homeowner assistance. It is possible- just possible- that many of the pro-Bush rulings, legal filings, and other actions coming out from Obama's White House are doing so without his knowledge or agreement.
So, despite my deep and growing misgivings, I'm going to wait a bit longer.
But if Obama continues to block investigation of Bush- if he continues to uphold Presidential secrecy, unlimited power to spy on Americans, renditions to nations that use torture, and indefinite imprisonment without the writ of habeas corpus...
... if he continues down that road, with no change, then Obama should be impeached and removed from office.
Of course it won't happen. The Democrats won't take out one of their own (just as the Republicans wouldn't), and the Republicans won't go after him for any of these things because they'd have to admit that what Bush did before Obama was impeachable.
For now... before I can believe in change, I need to SEE SOME ACTUAL CHANGE.
Get on the ball, Obama.
