2009-11-23

The "We're Not Dubya" Administration

I don't know. I'm not a legal expert - let alone know the difference between military and civilian courts and their role in history - but the more I watch Holder and read people defending the move to move terrorists for civilian trial in NYC, the more I wonder if it makes any sense. Maybe legal reasons can be posited but is it wise?

The thing I really, really don't get is why are both Holder and Obama saying those charged with be convicted? Obama says on one side of his mouth don't "prejudge" yet he shoots his mouth off saying they won't get off. Isn't that, like, tainting the process? Again, not a lawyer, just a douchetard blogger, but I do watch Law & Order and one thing I foresee is a lot of motions to suppress.

Moreover, if they are acquitted Holder said they won't let them go. So. He's going to circumnavigate the law? Isn't this the sort of stuff that made Bush hated?

Those taking the higher moral ground will assert the Bush administration wrongfully apprehended and detained these people in the first place. Perhaps. But, why, and this is how I'm beginning to see it, put the previous administration on trial? Why? To show the world justice in America is open and transparent?

Holder didn't impress me at all. For a defense lawyer, he's struggling to eloquently explain his decision.

Criminals love this sort of logic. 

I sure hope the circus doesn't come to NYC. Right now. Every policy enacted seems to come with a bumper sticker that reads: Clueless We Are. Bur We're Not George W. Bush.

***

Which brings me to Obama's so-so Asia trip. Americans are told his approach is laying the groundwork for...something, something. Der Spiegel, hardly a right-wing outfit, is having none of the Mr. Nice guy act. It's getting him nowhere they believe.

Upon taking office, Obama said that he wanted to listen to the world, promising respect instead of arrogance. But Obama's currency isn't as strong as he had believed. Everyone wants respect, but hardly anyone is willing to pay for it. Interests, not emotions, dominate the world of realpolitik. The Asia trip revealed the limits of Washington's new foreign policy: Although Obama did not lose face in China and Japan, he did appear to have lost some of his initial stature.

In Tokyo, the new center-left government even pulled out of its participation in a mission which saw the Japanese navy refueling US warships in the Indian Ocean as part of the Afghanistan campaign. In Beijing, Obama failed to achieve any important concessions whatsoever. There will be no binding commitments from China to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A revaluation of the Chinese currency, which is kept artificially weak, has been postponed. Sanctions against Iran? Not a chance. Nuclear disarmament? Not an issue for the Chinese.

The White House did not even stand up for itself when it came to the question of human rights in China. The president, who had said only a few days earlier that freedom of expression is a universal right, was coerced into attending a joint press conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao, at which questions were forbidden. Former US President George W. Bush had always managed to avoid such press conferences.
Here's the thing. Obama thinks...a lot. He says a lot of nice things. His wife too, when she once said "she was finally proud to be American."

Maybe Obama's weakness stems from the fact he has misread American - heck general - history all along? The world is not interested in his mini-biographies inserted in each speech anymore. They got the picture.

Obama: And our commitment to, as I stand on the majestic Great wall of China, I'm reminded of my father and my half brothers who are scattered all over the world. I'm proof of what l'uomo universali is all about. Michelle, stand up baby, is my comrade. My distant but intimate lover. Every morning, we sit together sharing scrambled eggs sprinkled with paprika and draw on a piece of paper how we will bring peace to the world...

Chinese: Hey, he tawk a lot. Say lots nice tings. But. PAY ME NOW!

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