What's going on here?
Fri Jul 04, 2008 at 08:01:10 AM PDT
Pay attention folks. Our dreams for a Just America can have us projecting illusions onto what actually falls far below our principles, or using assumptions and wishful thinking in place of the rhetoric that is before us. As our interpretation of reality is subject to the beliefs we hold, we can tend to look at events with rose colored glasses, interpreting them in the best possible light, rather than recognizing the warnings that something or someone falls below our ideals or far short of our principles. And if they fall short of our principles, it is our job as citizens to call them out.
With dizzying speed it seems Obama is recoiling from the very principles that I hold dear, and we are being asked by his strongest supporters to engage in an interpretation of these actions that is nothing short of a dangerous form of wishful thinking. It is also a disempowering solution to what I would call a political crisis for the democratic party members, the "ordinary" folks that contribute time and money to the party in the hopes that Obama will turn us from the deadly tide on neocon beliefs that has nearly served to wreck our country, and take the world economy with it.
It is our job as voters, as citizens, as people, to demand that our leaders represent the ideals that this country was founded on. To engage in assumptions and wishful thinking that at some point in the future, they will, in fact, do what we think is best, do the right thing, is potentially delusional, and dangerous.
If politicians don't respect the your constitutional rights now, or the constitutional fabric of this country, then there are no guarantees those principles will be respected 8 months, 10 months, one year from now. No guarantees. Period.
I think Kos has made the strongest statement yet regarding FISA, that I have heard anywhere:
As I've made clear to those reporters, there's nothing "centrist" about the FISA vote. There's nothing liberal or conservative about protecting the constitution. And given libertarians and liberals are both for keeping the Constitution out of the shredder, it's hard to pretend the issue sits on the simplistic left-right axis.
I would go even further though, and dispute the notion that this support of the FISA compromise is fear of "crappy ads" that would inject the notion that Obama is soft on terrorists. That might be part of the issue, but here is my fear: Obama, seeing the road to the Whitehouse relatively clear for him, opening with a large lead over McCain, simply isn't willing to let go of executive powers that he will inherit.
George Bush, in policies and practices, went beyond any previous president, essentially bloating the powers of the executive branch, to the detriment of our constitution, and endangering our democracy in the process.
My feeling is the Obama, now with the Whitehouse in view, is backtracking from principles that would essentially lessen the powers of the executive branch, and restore a greater checks and balance system that is sorely needed.
This isn't just about a candidate fearing the label "soft on terrorism". This is about about consolidating powers. Consider this:
From 2001 to 2007, the NSA engaged in a secret program that was a straightforward violation of America's wiretapping laws. Since the program was revealed, the administration has succeeded in preventing the judiciary from making a definitive declaration that the wiretapping was a crime. Suits against the government get dismissed on state-secrets grounds, because while the program may have been illegal, it was also so highly classified that its legality can never be litigated in open court. And now suits against the telecoms will by dismissed en masse as well. Meanwhile, the new law moves the goal posts, taking illegal things the administration was doing and making them legal.
I'll say this for Obama: he's not waiting to reveal his stances. He's not flip-fllopping after the election, he's letting us know where he stands now. He's testing the waters, and it is up to us to let him know that we favor protection of the constitution now, not on some future date when the so-called war on terror has been won.
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