I know bi-partisanship is important to Barack Obama – and it should be. He campaigned on a promise to try to end the seemingly unbreakable and destructive negativity that separates the Democrats and Republicans. One of Obama’s most well-known pre-presidential skills was his ability to find common ground with those with whom his side did not agree. And this willingness to open dialogue with opponents is an admirable trait that also sets a good example that communication and compromise – and not merely brute strength – are the best ways to attain one’s goals.
The problem, however, is that until he became president, Barack Obama had never been forced to try to compromise with an opponent as loud, selfish, aggressive, uncompromising, delusional and hypocritical – in a word, infantile – as the modern Republican Party. This is a party that regularly trots out its spokespeople on national television to “debate” current affairs by passing on bald-faced lies about those affairs. (For instance, GOP talking heads still hit the airwaves and argue against the Employee Free Choice Act by falsely claiming that it removes union members’ rights to cast votes anonymously – even though this lie has been debunked over and over and over again in all forms of media. Is it just me, or do Republican talking heads sound more and more like zombies that mindlessly chant “need more brains” – or in this case, “need lower taxes” – every time they make an appearance?) This is a party that has made blatant hypocrisy its primary game plan; just yesterday former Republican congressman Newt Gingrich claimed that Barack Obama’s recent handshake greeting of Venezuelan’s leftist president Hugo Chavez sent a “terrible signal about how the new administration regards dictators.” I guess Mr. Gingrich thinks ruthless, genocidal dictators shaking hands with members of the Republican Party sends a better signal somehow? OK, fine, but this is also the party that, despite piles of evidence that contradict its argument, is still trying to convince you that the human race is having no effect on the environment whatsoever. And let’s not forget that a fairly large portion of this party inexplicably believes that the world was created in six days after god snapped his fingers like a genie. OK, so where exactly does president Obama think he’s going to find that common ground he’s so intent on sharing with Republicans? He certainly didn’t find any in the stimulus bill: not a single Republican member of the House of Representatives voted for it (and only two GOP senators broke party rank to vote yes). Foreign policy? Not unless Obama brandishes his nuclear ammo first and asks questions later. Warrant-less wiretapping? Ha! Just kidding. Prosecution of war crimes against the Bush Administration? Now hold on a second . . .
In the past couple of weeks it has become public knowledge that president Obama does not intend to pursue prosecutions against C.I.A. field officers who tortured prisoners upon the orders of their superiors. And, if White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is to be taken at his word, president Obama already has decided that he does not wish to prosecute any member of the Bush administration – not even those who supervised the use of torture and falsely claimed it was a legal means of interrogation. Obama was clear on his reasoning regarding the decision not to prosecute C.I.A. officers:
No sooner had those insights into president Obama’s intentions and motives regarding the pursuit (or non-pursuit) of justice against the Bush administration come to light than the New York Times published an article revealing that convicted 9/11 terrorist Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was waterboarded a total of 183 times – one-hundred eighty-three times! – in a span of one month. This fact begs the question: at what point did Mohammed’s interrogators stop torturing for information and start torturing for shits and giggles? Or were they ever really torturing for information? No matter how one chooses to assess this revelation, the reality is that it is mind-numbingly despicable. It is despicable that my country – a country that, despite its well-documented past of transgressions against certain groups of the human race inside and outside its borders, is supposed to lead the way in human rights – sank to the level of its worst enemies by treating its prisoners in such an inhumane (and ineffective) manner. It is despicable that the leaders of my country would be so absurdly short-sighted as to believe that treating other human beings in such a way – no matter what heinous crimes they had been suspected of committing – would have absolutely zero consequences in the future? And it is despicable that our leaders went before the entire world and lied about the fact that they not only approved of using such degrading techniques, but that they actually conspired to apply such techniques and then attempt to make it legal to do so for all involved.
And still Barack Obama believes – or at least claims to believe – that is sufficient for us as a nation (and as one of the world’s supposedly civilized nations) to simply acknowledge the wrongdoings of the previous administration and then “turn the page.” Well, it’s time to tell Mr. Obama loudly and clearly that he is dead wrong – and no amount of political capital he foolishly think he’s going to gain by not pursuing justice against members of the Bush administration is worth the price. We all know this decision is motivated purely by politics (and perhaps a little self interest because of the possible consensual wrongdoings on the part of his Democratic allies); what other reason could somebody who has spoken so eloquently against the injustice of the Iraq War and the injustice of these “enhanced” interrogation techniques – and who is so intent on reclaiming the United States’ destroyed reputation around the world – have for not following through on such a clearly defined belief system? Clearly he believes he has something to gain by not pursuing justice against those who committed these terrible crimes – and that thing is political capital.
And this is where Obama quite possibly has become completely misguided. The first thing he should have learned (and learned very quickly) as a Democratic president is that the possession of political capital has absolutely no effect on any attempts to negotiate with this Republican Party. The members of this party do not believe in compromise; they believes only in the child-like delusion that, though they are no longer the majority in either house of congress, laws should be passed their way or no way at all. They believe that to give even one inch on any issue is traitorous to their cause and, more importantly, lethal to their own personal political survival (it has become readily apparent that Republican politicians increasingly see themselves as panicked Frankenstein’s monsters being chased through the streets by an angry, bloodthirsty constituency – sad indeed). This a party that believes its first duty is to regain power over the political process and its second duty to do whatever it wants to with that power – doing what’s right for the growing majority of unhappy citizens who cannot afford health care or their own homes is nowhere on this party’s agenda, folks. This is a minority party that will say or do anything – including things that fuel the fires of ignorance, hatred and possible violence against its enemies – in order to prevent the passing of laws of which it does completely approve. In short: political capital has absolutely no effect whatsoever on the way Republicans go about their business. Whether they are rolling in political capital or are completely bereft of anything even resembling political capital, Republicans operate with a “my way or the highway” mentality. They cannot be reasoned with and they cannot be bargained with.
Crimes – very serious crimes – were committed by people both high and low in rank in the Bush administration. These crimes all but destroyed our reputation around the world and more than likely produced a whole new generation of people (Muslim or not) with bottomless pits of burning hatred for the United States – future terrorists, in other words, who were created by the same man who foolishly claimed to have been “winning the war” to defeat terrorists once and for all. The only true way to restore the world’s faith in our country and its system of government is to bring those who committed these horrible crimes to justice. Bringing these criminals to justice would not be a mere act of political retribution – in fact, politics has nothing to do with it; more accurately it would be a sensible, just course of action, a course desired by many citizens of this country and an even greater number of citizens outside this country. Is the denial of justice for so many millions of people worth the acquisition of political capital – political capital that cannot even be used?
We can only hope that President Obama does not think so and thus allows the Attorney General to proceed pursuing the justice he is legally obligated to carry out.
The problem, however, is that until he became president, Barack Obama had never been forced to try to compromise with an opponent as loud, selfish, aggressive, uncompromising, delusional and hypocritical – in a word, infantile – as the modern Republican Party. This is a party that regularly trots out its spokespeople on national television to “debate” current affairs by passing on bald-faced lies about those affairs. (For instance, GOP talking heads still hit the airwaves and argue against the Employee Free Choice Act by falsely claiming that it removes union members’ rights to cast votes anonymously – even though this lie has been debunked over and over and over again in all forms of media. Is it just me, or do Republican talking heads sound more and more like zombies that mindlessly chant “need more brains” – or in this case, “need lower taxes” – every time they make an appearance?) This is a party that has made blatant hypocrisy its primary game plan; just yesterday former Republican congressman Newt Gingrich claimed that Barack Obama’s recent handshake greeting of Venezuelan’s leftist president Hugo Chavez sent a “terrible signal about how the new administration regards dictators.” I guess Mr. Gingrich thinks ruthless, genocidal dictators shaking hands with members of the Republican Party sends a better signal somehow? OK, fine, but this is also the party that, despite piles of evidence that contradict its argument, is still trying to convince you that the human race is having no effect on the environment whatsoever. And let’s not forget that a fairly large portion of this party inexplicably believes that the world was created in six days after god snapped his fingers like a genie. OK, so where exactly does president Obama think he’s going to find that common ground he’s so intent on sharing with Republicans? He certainly didn’t find any in the stimulus bill: not a single Republican member of the House of Representatives voted for it (and only two GOP senators broke party rank to vote yes). Foreign policy? Not unless Obama brandishes his nuclear ammo first and asks questions later. Warrant-less wiretapping? Ha! Just kidding. Prosecution of war crimes against the Bush Administration? Now hold on a second . . .
In the past couple of weeks it has become public knowledge that president Obama does not intend to pursue prosecutions against C.I.A. field officers who tortured prisoners upon the orders of their superiors. And, if White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is to be taken at his word, president Obama already has decided that he does not wish to prosecute any member of the Bush administration – not even those who supervised the use of torture and falsely claimed it was a legal means of interrogation. Obama was clear on his reasoning regarding the decision not to prosecute C.I.A. officers:
This is a time for reflection, not retribution. I respect the strong views and
emotions that these issues evoke. We have been through a dark and painful
chapter in our history. But at a time of great challenges and disturbing
disunity, nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame
for the past. Our national greatness is embedded in America’s ability to right
its course in concert with our core values, and to move forward with confidence.
That is why we must resist the forces that divide us, and instead come together
on behalf of our common future.
No sooner had those insights into president Obama’s intentions and motives regarding the pursuit (or non-pursuit) of justice against the Bush administration come to light than the New York Times published an article revealing that convicted 9/11 terrorist Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was waterboarded a total of 183 times – one-hundred eighty-three times! – in a span of one month. This fact begs the question: at what point did Mohammed’s interrogators stop torturing for information and start torturing for shits and giggles? Or were they ever really torturing for information? No matter how one chooses to assess this revelation, the reality is that it is mind-numbingly despicable. It is despicable that my country – a country that, despite its well-documented past of transgressions against certain groups of the human race inside and outside its borders, is supposed to lead the way in human rights – sank to the level of its worst enemies by treating its prisoners in such an inhumane (and ineffective) manner. It is despicable that the leaders of my country would be so absurdly short-sighted as to believe that treating other human beings in such a way – no matter what heinous crimes they had been suspected of committing – would have absolutely zero consequences in the future? And it is despicable that our leaders went before the entire world and lied about the fact that they not only approved of using such degrading techniques, but that they actually conspired to apply such techniques and then attempt to make it legal to do so for all involved.
And still Barack Obama believes – or at least claims to believe – that is sufficient for us as a nation (and as one of the world’s supposedly civilized nations) to simply acknowledge the wrongdoings of the previous administration and then “turn the page.” Well, it’s time to tell Mr. Obama loudly and clearly that he is dead wrong – and no amount of political capital he foolishly think he’s going to gain by not pursuing justice against members of the Bush administration is worth the price. We all know this decision is motivated purely by politics (and perhaps a little self interest because of the possible consensual wrongdoings on the part of his Democratic allies); what other reason could somebody who has spoken so eloquently against the injustice of the Iraq War and the injustice of these “enhanced” interrogation techniques – and who is so intent on reclaiming the United States’ destroyed reputation around the world – have for not following through on such a clearly defined belief system? Clearly he believes he has something to gain by not pursuing justice against those who committed these terrible crimes – and that thing is political capital.
And this is where Obama quite possibly has become completely misguided. The first thing he should have learned (and learned very quickly) as a Democratic president is that the possession of political capital has absolutely no effect on any attempts to negotiate with this Republican Party. The members of this party do not believe in compromise; they believes only in the child-like delusion that, though they are no longer the majority in either house of congress, laws should be passed their way or no way at all. They believe that to give even one inch on any issue is traitorous to their cause and, more importantly, lethal to their own personal political survival (it has become readily apparent that Republican politicians increasingly see themselves as panicked Frankenstein’s monsters being chased through the streets by an angry, bloodthirsty constituency – sad indeed). This a party that believes its first duty is to regain power over the political process and its second duty to do whatever it wants to with that power – doing what’s right for the growing majority of unhappy citizens who cannot afford health care or their own homes is nowhere on this party’s agenda, folks. This is a minority party that will say or do anything – including things that fuel the fires of ignorance, hatred and possible violence against its enemies – in order to prevent the passing of laws of which it does completely approve. In short: political capital has absolutely no effect whatsoever on the way Republicans go about their business. Whether they are rolling in political capital or are completely bereft of anything even resembling political capital, Republicans operate with a “my way or the highway” mentality. They cannot be reasoned with and they cannot be bargained with.
Crimes – very serious crimes – were committed by people both high and low in rank in the Bush administration. These crimes all but destroyed our reputation around the world and more than likely produced a whole new generation of people (Muslim or not) with bottomless pits of burning hatred for the United States – future terrorists, in other words, who were created by the same man who foolishly claimed to have been “winning the war” to defeat terrorists once and for all. The only true way to restore the world’s faith in our country and its system of government is to bring those who committed these horrible crimes to justice. Bringing these criminals to justice would not be a mere act of political retribution – in fact, politics has nothing to do with it; more accurately it would be a sensible, just course of action, a course desired by many citizens of this country and an even greater number of citizens outside this country. Is the denial of justice for so many millions of people worth the acquisition of political capital – political capital that cannot even be used?
We can only hope that President Obama does not think so and thus allows the Attorney General to proceed pursuing the justice he is legally obligated to carry out.
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