President Elect Obama: Denounce and Renounce

I spent most of the weeks between the conventions and the election reading two essential books: Jane Mayer's The Dark Side and Barton Gellman's Angler. Both cast essential light, the first from a systemic perspective and the second from a personal one, on the degree to which Vice President Cheney created a secret cabal inside the Executive Branch. That cabal, co-headed by Cheney's ultra-pugnacious in-house lawyer David Addington, proceeded to eviscerate laws and treaties, paving them over with a series of (in some cases, still-secret) legal opinions binding on the Executive Branch, whose power Cheney (though publicly disavowing his membership in that branch) was determined to increase.

Those members of the government with legislative or constitutional responsibilities to weigh in on these matters, but whom the Cheney team didn't trust, simply weren't "read in" on the new policies. So State Department experts on the law of war, Defense Department JAGS, even Condi Rice and Colin Powell, all found out about these new policies--involving, at a minimum, detention, rendition, and interrogation methods that were designed to shock the conscience--in the press, as a fait accompli, if they found out about them at all.

It was an eerie experience, reading this material during an election campaign where such matters were rarely if ever mentioned. One benefit of keeping your most prized policies secret is that they don't get debated during an election, because they don't show up on polls of voters' concerns.

So, the question needs to be asked of the President-elect: do you plan to denounce and renounce these extra-Constitutional ways of doing business, and the illegal policies that resulted, before you take office? Because, one is entitled to fear that, if you don't, one day, when things get tough (as they will), you will look at this secret little tool chest, and it will appear all too tempting.

Comments

[kittybrat]

Well said.
This MUST be done. How can we assure this? We must wright to the Obama administration, write to President Elect Obama via his website and keep up the pressure. We the people elected this man, now let's keep up the momentum and see that sanity and truth prevail. After you've written, send letters to your local newspapers and urge your friends to write as well. Keep up the work.

[WilliamProc]

I've read articles from Project Censored about the shadow legislation written by Cheney and his cronies. I tend to agree with the pundits who have said that when such laws are given to the Executive branch, they are NEVER rescended.

For example; one clause in the Patriot Act states that any federal employee has the right to eletronically monitor people that they suspect of suspicious activity. I joke with one of my friends who works for the Commerce dept. when will he get his Jr. G-Man wiretapping set.

I pray that Pres-Elect Obama does the right thing, I truly hope so.

[batguano]

Lets not forget who voted for the "Patriot" Act to be made permanent.­....Rahm Emanuel.

[Yermammy]

I do not like Rahm. He's too centrist. He's not going to allow Impeachment if he has anything to say about it. Mark my words. That will be the death of Barack's reputation.
I voted for Pres. Elect Obama to end the Iraq war and to punish those that took us there.

[stayinsouth1981]

I want my constitution NOW!

[jcwtts1]

The time for renouncing and denouncing is past. If you want O to change these policies then just say that. The rhetoric of the campaign was destructive and divisive. What we need now is leadership. Say clearly what you want and why. Let the bs stop.

J

[Harry Shearer - Huffpost Blogger]

The language is clear and declarative, whether it was misused in the campaign or not. Denounce means to clearly and forthrightly reject rhetorically the predations upon the Constitution; renounce means to non-rhetorically reject any temptation to, as some commenters here have suggested, use the same tools for "better" ends.

[FogBelter]

Harry, I appreciate your idealism, but we are in a catch 22 here. If Obama were to rip out every extra Constitutional addendum applied to the Executive Branch under Bush/Cheney what is to prevent them from being reinstated in a future Administration? As wonderful and awe inspiring the US Constitution is, it is obviously flawed otherwise we wouldn't find ourselves in the situation we are today. The best way to correct the loopholes is by having Constitutional scholars do an autopsy on what went wrong and then fashion a Constitutional Amendment to to permanently close them.

Furthermore, I am guilty of wanting Obama to hold off on surrendering any powers until we see how the Legislative and Judicial Branches will react to his proposals. We are in dire straits right now and we can ill afford obstructionism by individuals in the government who have yet to denounce and renounce the political theories that have gotten us to this point.

In a perfect world President Obama should denounce and renounce the acquired unitary powers of Buch/Cheney, but we need to see how successful his agenda to address the myriad of problems facing our nation are aided or hindered by the other branches of government first. As blasphemous as it may seem, that is my opinion.

[Yermammy]

"Give em Hell, Harry!" Unlike some of these wimps and apologists, we have to carry the fight forward. The Republicans fight like that and respect none of this trying to get along. They see co-operation as a "weakness". Barack needs to restore the legacy and decency to the position he will soon hold. It also takes away the temptation for future presidents to abuse this extraordinary power.

[fogbreath]

if you want to know Harry's take on the bohiemian grove bunch, buy his film "Teddy Bears Picnic".

[TheIndependenceParty]

This hydra that is the Neo-Con movement has appeared and reappeared over the past forty years. Its perpetrators and perpetuators have never been called to task at a level that would remove their influence or repair the damage to our nation and its laws.

That said, Bush, Cheney and their acolytes, have taken the damage and lawlessness to an unconscienable new level. The violation of Posse Comitatus, the rescission of Habeas Corpus, Warrantless searches and wiretaps, extraordinary rendition, torture in our name, and the flagrant and continued violation of court orders from no less than the Supreme Court of the US. Should I go on? These do not even touch upon the violations of our treaties and international laws which are almost too numerous to mention.

If these crimes are not addressed, these men, or those who follow them, will commit worse crimes at a future day when they make their way back to the White House a fourth time. It is not enough that they were repudiated at the polls if the rule of law is not also restored. Harry is exactly right.

I did not vote for Obama as a better man to break the same laws as Bush and Cheney have. I voted for him as a learned man who would restore those laws by his influence and action.

[Yermammy]

Superb. Exactly. The best explanation yet!

[writerswrite]

Um... okay. Here's the thing. I have followed this election very closely, and have heard Barack Obama say on many occasions that one of his first actions once in office will be to review the executive orders signed by President Bush, and to undo what he can in terms of power-grabbing. He has talked consistently about closing Guantanamo Bay, restoring habeas corpus, and restoring the balance of power. I think the implication that somehow there's a chance that he WON'T do these things is to imply that he's been lying the many times that he's talked about this very issue.

[annis]

Bullseye. This article was unnecessary - or, maybe, just not thought out. We have a lot of habits to undo & one of them is writing such as this - which, in fact, promotes what the expressed objection or expressed fear is.

[Yermammy]

Then don't do anything about it. Or just go away! Some of us are indeed going to make sure this happens. With a vengeance.

[lobear00]

Talk these days by "Politicians" is very "Cheap", within the first "Six months obama and his team should 've had enough time to receive all the "Bogus executive orders. That said, Obama should instruct his new Attorney General to proceed with making cases against all those within the bush administration who have destroyed all documents, and records and the like.
Hire back all the "Fired" United States Attorneys, give each different sections of areas of investigations, to follow up on and then prosecute ie: Ag gonzo, mukasey, all of their minions. members of congress who blocked, hearings, investigations, and who helped cover up the crimes of the administration. All in all the "Corruption of all three branches of the United States Government.

[scooperss]

he will certainly lose the respect of a lot of the people who voted for him if he doesn't clean up behind bush and cheney.

I don't want ANY president to have unitary powers.

But a nasty little part of me hopes that he will make the republicans sweat buckets before he fixes the mess they made of our country.

[Poboy]

They are already stacking up on guns.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/us/07guns.html

[ChuckWhite]

I understand your meaning. After all, wingnuts are wingnuts. But that's all those people are ... not a real threat, just a stupid distraction.

Meanwhile, those people need to learn a lesson. The lesson? "What ye sow, so shall ye reap ... unless". Unless, cooler heads prevail. Unless there is a clear understanding that, reality, rationality, and an understanding that our Union continues ONLY when we can include all as equals.

The U.S. is the first government in the history of civilization to be founded on nothing more than an idea. That is not a "throw away" line. It is important. Stop ... think about it. No nation in human history was founded on a simple idea ... "All men are created equal".

That is true of our governmental, economic and foreign policy, Republicans may hate Democratic policy. Certainly, as a Democrat, I hate current Republican policy. In the long run, none of that matters, because we're all in this together. We better find a way to deal with it rationally or 230+ years of history wasted.

[Gidster]

McCain/Palin told them that a dangerous anti-American with friendly ties to terrorists want to take our guns away. For two months that was the steady diet fed to Fox News, Limbaugh, and Hannity audiences that single source their info because these entities tell them that Liberal control all other media, so they cannot be trusted.

When your trusted officials, news agencies and pundits all come together and repeat a message however false; there are those that will believe even after the facts come out.

[Retrofuturistic]

There is no statute of limitations on impeachment. If we would impeach Bush and Cheney, even after they leave office, that secret little tool chest of extra-Cons­titutional powers would disappear. Our system of checks and balances is compromised. Impeachment needs to be done, unless we want all future presidents to have imperial powers.

[Gidster]

Bush could preemptively pardon all involved. He preemptively invaded a country...­.........

[Yermammy]

He could be impeached in the morning and convicted in the afternoon, if Nancy so chose to do it. It's that fast. But noooooooooooo, she still chooses to ignore the 35 Articles of Impeachment that were read into the House Registry. It took FIVE HOURS TO DICTATE. There's ample room to do this, it's just some of these officials are guilty. If impeachment proceedings were started, the pardoning powers STOP. Win or Lose, the pardoning powers are strangled and rendered null and VOID.

[reader39]

I was encouraged by this piece of news from TPM media:

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/243435.php

[Sundialsvc4]

We need to do a helluva lot of law-enforcement, and if the existing Executives manage to get through the next two months without being impeached, they'd better grab that fast plane to Dubai as soon as the inauguration is over.

But... it's not just "those two." Oh, no. Hundreds!

"Article 2, Section 4" may in fact be one of the most important little single-sentences in our Constitution ... that "nation's cup of breve." Three words: "ANY Civil Officer."

Nowhere can a gang of criminals do more damage, to more people in less time, than when they are "civil officers." The higher-up you go, the more hundreds of millions of Plaintiffs.

Let's define "high crime": "using the powers and position of your Office, in violation of your Oath of Office, to commit, to facilitate, or to protect any criminal act whose plaintiff is 'the Public at Large,' or to fail to use those powers to interdict or expose any suspected criminal act of which you knew or should have known."

Let's define "the Constitution" as what it is: "the Supreme Law of the Land." "Shall be" is a command.

There are dozens of enormous problems..­. that are the direct result of High Crime. We're not talking about "the President cheating on his wife." We're talking about: the greatest swindle ever perpetrated; an illegal war that has killed or maimed hundreds of thousands of ... Americans.

HIGH Crimes.

Crimes.

[borisgoodenough]

The last thing we need at the start of the new Administration is a witch hunt -- however well deserved -- to seek out those culpable for shredding our Constitution over the past eight years. Obama should simply make a very public and symbolic show of reversing these actions and opinions, wherever he finds them, and get on with the far more important work he faces.

[xrepublican]

We are a nation of laws - or we are not.

The 'Commit high crimes/get pardoned' model of politics that Nixon, Reagan AND Bush have used shouold NOT be acceptable in a nation of laws. The SAME faces keep showing up in ever worsening crimes... Cheney, Rumsfeld..­. Rove..... those that learned their ways under Nixon - or THEIR protoges seem to believe that it's a crime ONLY if you're caught (and then there's always a pardon awaiting). It is time to end this ongoing mockery. On the Department of Justice is engraved:

WHERE LAW ENDS, TYRANNY BEGINS

We came far too close this time. Next time - and those involved WILL keep trying - we may not be so lucky.

[RadLeftVetPatriot]

Constitutional shredding notwithstanding
What's more important than trying and convicting these criminals?
4192 Americans dead
100,000+ wounded,
1,284,105 dead Iraqis (a million non-combatant)
4 million wounded
2.7 MILLION displaced Iraqi children
$569,105,0­75,000.00 (that's a HALF TRILLION+) in debt to Chinese communists
American war companies operating tax-free and bid-free on foreign soil.
I could go on all day.

Not witches, Boris. Heinous criminals operating with impunity in the name of you and me and The United States of America.

[Yermammy]

Thanx, brother. That's very sobering when you put it so precisely. We gotta do this.

[bimplebean]

I understand and empathize with your feelings; there is a strong temptation to simply set things right and be done with it.

But there has been a nasty trend in the last 30 + years of big shots breaking the law BIG TIME and getting pardoned, excused or not prosecuted for it. Perhaps this is the conservative side of me talking, but *breaking the law* should result in a *punishment* that in turn should serve as a *deterrent* to others.

[rockyersocksoff]

The surest way to get away with crimes is to be the cop. Especially the TOP cop.

Dictators are ALWAYS allowed to fade into a gentle retirement by their successors, Saddam notwithstanding.

If Obama does ANYTHING to step back from Bush/Cheney's dastardly-deedism, I'll be very pleasantly surprised.

[vigilantwarrior]

Yes, this is the heart of the matter, Mr. Shearer.

But unless the Orwellian fraud that is the "War on Terror" is exposed, all these fascistic actions will ultimately be excused in the public mind as they have been excused by Congress. Obama himself voted to renew the USA PATRIOT Act several times. He voted to immunize telecoms for their role in illegal domestic surveillance. He repeatedly voted to approve funds for the illegal occupation of Iraq. He has announced his intention to expand the military presence in Afghanistan. And how long will the global "honeymoon" last while atrocities like this continue?

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/those-who-would-tear-the-world-down/

Priority #1: Denounce and PROSECUTE those responsible for making torture US policy, up to and including Dick Cheney.

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/confess/

Btw, your assertion that Condi Rice and Colin Powell "found out about" US torture "in the press" contradicts this prominent report from ABC News:

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/LawPolitics/Story?id=4583256

[SanityNow]

And let's re-examine what started all of this mess

. . . . September 11, 2001

[Yermammy]

Actually the mess started over a hundred years before that when the British Empire decided to establish borderlines across the Middle East that put blood enemies together with no regard to cultural differences. The Saudi's long collusion with the Bush's doesn't help their case either. 9/11 was merely an excuse for the Neocons to pounce on a delicate situation in Iraq. The real fight was, is and will continue to be in Saudi Arabia, who, by the way, laugh quietly at our confusion. We have fell into every trap that's been set and we are going to fail in Afghanistan to their great delight. No one even whispers about the power of the Saud.

[Poboy]

SanityNow,

I think this is the $64,000 question.

Because based on this event, some extraordinary things emerged.

The 911 Commission was compromised from the beginning by the selection of Phillip D. Zelikow as its Executive Director, who had extensive ties to both Bush and Rice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_D._Zelikow

[jimme]

No need to. This "mess",the Iraq War,was started just to obtain their oil. They had NOTHING to do with 9/11. All of this mess is just a distraction from the real business at hand. Bid Oil had ripped-off the country of Iran for decades until their citizenry stood-up against them and reclaimed what was rightfully theirs. Saddam sorta did the same thing. This country was buddy-buddy with Saddam until he started taking more of the oil profits,which infuriated the real-powers of this country. Then they got rid of him under the guise of a War on Terror. Notice we still have troops there due to the fact the Iraqi Government won't sign-over the rights to their oil. Hopefully in the near future all of this will come out and the perpetrators will pay. So don't use 9/11 as an excuse to justify shredding our Constitution for personal use.

[RadLeftVetPatriot]

Baloney! The Iraq Invasion was in planning well before 9/11/01.

[boophus]

Both President Elect Barack HUSSEIN Obama & Vice-President Elect Joe Biden are constitutional experts. I trust they will be tidying up the nasty brew that Bush and Cheney have concocted. I just don't know where it will be on thier list of 1001 things to fix that the previous incompetent and maliciously imperialistic gang in the West Wing brought to our government.

[jimme]

And the purpose of capitalizing Obama's middle name is ?

[RadLeftVetPatriot]

Same as Jesus' middle name.