Obama's Master Plan
Although nothing about our nation's legal obligation to prosecute (or extradite) torturers was mentioned, the April 29 exchange between President Obama and reporter Jake Tapper suggests a criminal investigation is inevitable. Obama flatly stated that waterboarding is torture and referred to the Bush administration's sanctioning of the interrogation technique as "a mistake."
On his blog, Marc Cooper shares the thoughts of two friends who believe Obama "is playing this like a virtuoso, that he remains two steps ahead of the rest of us, and that he is masterfully engineering this to wind up in the hands of a klieg-lit congressional drama..."
Cooper links to Jonathan Taplin's theory that the reason Dick Cheney has been aggressively defending the Bush administration's use of torture, is the former VP realizes his day of reckoning is on the horizon.
All of this means it would probably be helpful if Obama loyalists were to overcome their misguided reluctance to pressure him in any way. Indeed, it could be plausibly argued that the president wants the public to demand that the Bush gang be held accountable, so the current administration and Democrats in general are not perceived as acting overzealously for partisan reasons.
Jeff Norman blogs at CitizenJeff.com.
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+ BBackSoon
Perhaps we should voice our opinions on those things also.
Remember most people are more concerned with American Idol or Survivor than they are with the economy or the budget. As long as they can afford to keep the cable and the electricity paid they simply don’t care.
Reply to BBackSoon:
How sad, but oh so true. It never ceases to amaze me what people choose to invest their time in. Unfortunately, I get so many vitriolic e-mails from these people that just assume that I agree with their opinions. How do you politely respond to them???
Number one: I am a staunch Democrat, surprise, surprise, and I consider myself to be an agnostic, by the way, I also smoke and drink so that automatically puts me in the 2009 Leper Colony. I really need to know, before I loose every social "friend" I know!
I am serious, I need to know... Suggestions anyone?
If we citizens do not rise and proclaim an abomination the methods of "enhanced interrogation" that the Bush administration sanctioned then who will protest at domestic torture in the future?
How did we open Guantanamo as a concentration camp? What Supreme court justice blocked the doorway? Freed the imprisioned under habeus corpus as they should have? Who will ensure that John Yoo types (immigrants too eager too please) get reeducated and isolated?
We citizens must ensure the integrity of the government of the people and by the people, simply that.
I think you are exactly right.
We learned from the campaign that the President strategizes with the end game in mind, always.
Cheney's strange behavior post-vice-
Exactly!
That's why Cheney has been on TV more in the last 8 weeks, than he ever was over the last 8 years.
Over the weekend he tried to implicate Bush with the "he probably knew what we were doing" statement.
It's sick.
I'm glad we have a smart man in office.
President Obama is three steps ahead of Cooper, and engineering a black-mail swap-off of criminal charges against GOP torture Chiefs for National Health Care for us Indians.
It would probably help if we raised blood curdling screams demanding prosecution of those who DEFILED the American flag in the pigmire of torture.
"...what legal rationales were used...it was a mistake."
exactly. now Prosecute .
Pfft. Of course President Obama is two steps ahead of us. Everyone who criticized his tactics during his campaign ultimately had to choke on their short-sightedness when his strategy paid off. The man is a strategist. Understand that, and then maybe you can understand his actions.
Yep - if politics were chess,... President Obama would be a Grand-master. He's already got Bushco checkmated and they are just now starting to realize he is already beaten them.
Former VP Cheney has realized he is outclassed, and is being played into a corner. That 'old bear' is just attempting to buy time now.
I will repeat my comment from another thread.
"President Obama is five moves ahead in this chess game".
Yep.
And I wonder if this applies to the healthcare debate as well? He had to have known that not inviting the single-payer people at the first hearing would cause an uproar.
That's a good point, I've been interested to watch this unfold.
My guess Cambridge0
I hope your right about Obama.
.
.
Torture is a crime.
Those who ordered it are criminals.
.
.
That makes perfect sense...Ob
Yes, this will be the bone for the progressive public. In return, we will be expected to shut up about financial rape by the banks and a murderously corrupt healthcare system. Wow. We certainly struck a hard bargain here...
Or, those could also be moves in his plan. Like President Obama, most of us can think about more than one thing.
I can see him saying at some point on all these issues: "We tried our hardest to work it out with you, but the American people are not going to let go of this one." And so we all need to push him and the Congress on ALL the issues, so that he will appear conciliatory towards the mega-corporations and has tried his hardest to work out a deal with them, but that ultimately he is a servant of the people, and must bow to their will.
Perhaps we should voice our opinions on those things also.
Remember most people are more concerned with American Idol or Survivor than they are with the economy or the budget. As long as they can afford to keep the cable and the electricity paid they simply don’t care.
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