“There is a lot of inertia” against closing the prison, “and the administration is not putting a lot of energy behind their position that I can see,” said Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and supports the Illinois plan. He added that “the odds are that it will still be open” by the next presidential inauguration.
I'm sure someone here will correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the president make a big production of ensuring his first official act as president was signing an ordering closing Guantanamo Bay?
As Glenn Reynolds often reminds, does anyone remember that fierce moral urgency of change back in November '08 and January '09?
This guy can't even close a military base, and he's the Commander in Chief. I wish it weren't so; I'd prefer to have a stronger president, if only for the safety of the country. But it's abundantly clear--this president is incompetent. And that makes him dangerous.
"This guy can't even close a military base, and he's the Commander in Chief."
ReplyDeleteWhere to begin ...
We don't know that Obama "can't even close a military base." His claim/promise to close it was intended to help get him elected. This happened (he is now the president). It isn't clear that he actually *cares* about Guantanamo Bay, since orating about it served his purpose. Why not just assume that he is a typical politician and said whatever he thought would get him elected? I think this is more reasonable than to assume that he actually cared, but just can't get this simple thing done.
I'm not trying to be cynical, I just don't see any reason to assume that he (or many/most politicians when campaigning) was even trying to tell the truth. Meg Whitman is now running spots arguing that she should be governor because she isn't Jerry Brown. One knock against Brown was than when he left office as governor in early 1983, California was experiencing very high unemployment. Well, yeah! Volker was killing inflation with super-high interest rates and unemployment was high *everywhere*. Blaming Jerry Brown for this seems ... um ... disingenuous? But, again, I don't think Meg cares. If this gets her elected, mission accomplished!
-Mark Roulo
The president says a lot of things. He's very good at talking. In fact, he talks very pretty.
ReplyDeleteBut he can't command the tides. He can't close a military base.
And when he says something, he needs to be held accountable for it.
Darren , I mist respectfully disagree with you. B Hussein Obama doesn't "talk pretty", he reads a teleprompter well. It's bad when the man uses one for a kindergarten class.
ReplyDeleteRemember there is no POTUS without TOTUS.