Posted on 05/21/2009 2:20:50 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
President Obama did what he likes to do when his political initiatives stall—he gave a speech today.
He stood—literally—by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and defended his decisions to ban torture, and to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay.
The long-term impact of Obama's address—given in the great hall at the National Archives—will say much about his powers of persuasion. Republicans have made gains by selling brutality and fear in recent weeks.
In the short term, though, the president has already lost a round to his critics, who have succeeded at getting him distracted and defensive.
The White House tried to ignore the debate, hoping it would die down and go away. But then the House and the Senate, in the last week, rebuffed Obama on Guantanamo Bay. And missteps by Speaker Nancy Pelosi fueled conservative attacks on the issue of "enhanced" interrogation methods.
So, give him this. Audacity directly confronted former Vice President Dick Cheney and other conservatives who have been yakking away, showing their complete misunderstanding of the dynamics of a war on terror.
Obama accused the Bush administration officials of acting from "fear rather than foresight" in the days after the 9/11 attacks, with "hasty decisions" that undermined U.S. efforts in the war against Islamic terrorism.
He inherited "a mess," Obama said. Bush-era officials "trimmed facts and evidence to fit ideological predispositions" with policies "neither effective nor sustainable."
And now, "we have seen a return of the politicization of these issues," Obama said. "We will be ill-served by ... the fear-mongering" that has "more to do with politics than protecting our country."
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...
Link doesn’t work..
Fixed it:
Thanks
Link dead. Did US News (HAH!) get punked?
I didn’t know US News and World Report were bought out by Scrappleface.
"Osama bin Laden and his like know they cannot defeat the United States and its allies in a direct confrontation, but seek to have us destroy ourselves, by adopting panicky, draconian, and disgraceful tactics."
"Bush and Cheney fell for it. Obama needs to keep reminding us."
Top link works.
If the author of this piece is opposed to torture, why does he torture me with this drivel? Hypocrite.
The MSM will never, ever require the ‘Bama to take responsibility for anything; it’s a slippery slope.
And I should trust a writer that openly tells me his middle name is Aloysius? Surely you jest...I know, don’t call you Shirley...LOL!
the link has been repaired..
Amazing. Bush/Cheney had the War on Terror all wrong, Barry will fix it. Can’t wait to see what this reporter says 2 years from now when they are unemployed.
The day we get hit Obama will be filling his shorts
...but it’s not funny...
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Heh. :)
I wish it were. Instead, it is a reminder of the difference between genius and stupidity: there is a limit to genius.
“Republicans have made gains by selling brutality and fear in recent weeks.” WTF? I can remember when US News was the relatively conservative alternative to Time and Newsweek. Now, just more trashy dribble.
So bin Laden really doesn’t want to kill Americans, it was all just a tactic to make us mean??
Brilliant logic.
Never fear. The print industry will be bailed out like the banks and car companies.
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