I'll make this a very brief diary and add some caveats right at the beginning. First, I hope this diary doesn't turn into an opportunity for more fighting in the primary wars, because all three Democratic candidates - Obama, Clinton and Edwards - would close Guantanamo, substantially reverse the shameful legacy of torture, restore habeas corpus, bring the United States back into compliance with the Convention Against Torture and the Geneva Conventions, and draw back the curtain on the networks of secret CIA prisons.
All of them. For me, the most personally painful aspect of the Bush Administration has been coming to realize that we no longer even maintain the pretense of respect for human rights. We have gone from Eleanor Roosevelt leading the way on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to... approving an attorney general who can't even condemn the use of simulated drowning to coerce testimony. One of the aspects of Obama's resume that most powerfully attracts me is his background in Constitutional law, and the fact that over the last decade, I have seen him follow a rights-based agenda in his votes and in his public statements. We aren't used to seeing attorneys as heroes in our society, but many of them are. Now, some of America's most courageous attorneys, men and women who stood up to Bush Administration threats and represented detainees at Guantanamo, have weighed in on the Presidential race:
More than 80 volunteer lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees today endorsed Illinois Senator Barack Obama's presidential bid.
http://www.boston.com/...
A few years back, Obama met with some attorneys in my city who work tirelessly to represent immigrant detainees, including asylum seekers. More than 120,000 persons are detained each year in a widespread system that rivals in size and scale the largest states' penal systems. I won't go into the details of the immigration detention system here, except to say that many immigrants cannot access legal counsel, as many as 200 US citizens are detained and placed in deportation proceedings each year before (hopefully) the errors are discovered, and the US routinely detaines for periods of up to three years, persons fleeing persecution from around the world, in violation of the Refugee Convention. Obama told the attorneys that the Constitution matters, and due process matters, and that he would do whatever he can in the legislative arena to assure that the basic rights of non-citizens as well as citizens, will be protected. Obama has worked hard behind the scenes with Leahy and Kennedy on immigration issues, always emphasizing due process. Our experience is the same as those attorneys representing the Guantanamo detainees:
"When we were walking the halls of the Capitol trying to win over enough Senators to beat back the Administration's bill, Senator Obama made his key staffers and even his offices available to help us," they wrote. "Senator Obama worked with us to count the votes, and he personally lobbied colleagues who worried about the political ramifications of voting to preserve habeas corpus for the men held at Guantanamo. He has understood that our strength as a nation stems from our commitment to our core values, and that we are strong enough to protect both our security and those values. Senator Obama demonstrated real leadership then and since, continuing to raise Guantanamo and habeas corpus in his speeches and in the debates."
I am also frustrated by much of Obama's rhetoric and fear that his idealism and desire to work both sides of the isle could even doom his presidency. The criticisms leveled against him resonate with me... I am not a cultist or a backer of Obama merely because of his lofty rhetoric, nor am I naive about the nature of our political opponents, who justify torture and back draconian laws on immigration detention that by their very nature are against our most fundamental values. I cringed at some of his Reagan comments, although I understood he was not supporting Reagan's policies. But from the moment he was first elected to the Senate, Obama has stood up against the Administration not just on Guantanamo, but on other less visible but more widespread abuses of non-citizens. In Illinois, he forced through legislation to prevent torture by the Chicago police, by mandating videotaped interrogations of suspects. Obama has been quite consistent and has never wavered on fundamental human rights and the Constitution. I've seen this up close, and no issue matters more to me. None.