I swear, I really will. I got no problem with it.
Yes, there's another "Top O' The Rec List, Ma!" diary that has already discussed this. Sure, it seems like this is just more of the same. An equivalent statement. Something roughly equal. But anyone who tries to equate the HB to the other diarist, will also get an HR.
And I'm not kidding.
Because I'm not the same as that guy.
And I'm not breaking any rules. I even got counsel to write a memo that says so.
See, Obama is nothing like Cheney. Oh, sure, they're cousinsand all, but Obama never ordered waterboards, or sleep deprivation, or bugs to freak detainees into telling him exactly what he wanted to hear. He didn't surround himself with sycophants so that when he needed a legal opinion, he would get exactly the one he wanted to hear. He didn't go into an undisclosed location to cryo-hibernate in between appearances on Faux Noise, where the questions were vetted to be exactly what he wanted to hear. Hell, he didn't even want to get into a war in Iraq. And he didn't shoot anyone in the face.
Barack Obama never flunked out of college, not even once, let alone multiple times. Barack Obama never dodged the draft. Barack Obama never told a Senator to go fuck himself.
That's not to excuse every action our current President has taken in his 115-odd days in office. I would like to see the photos released. I would like to see a single-payer demand of Congress. I would love to see a reversal on DADT (though for him to circumvent Congress on this would really just be more of that usurpation of Executive authority that we all hate). And who of us doesn't want to see some justice for the War Criminals?
But making a bad or unpopular decision is not the same as torture. Taking a political position is not the same as war profiteering. Bringing corporate interests int the discussion as one of several factions in a multifaceted policy debate is not the same as destroying a country in order to steal its' natural resources in order to control world economy.
And it's probably worth it to look over some of those "bad" decisions he's made so far. Like the one where he called Plush Limpbaugh the leader of the GOP. "ONOZ, OMG, don't give him the power!" How did that turn out? Or the "bipartisan" approach that got him nothing but grief for playing fair with a bunch of rigid ideologues. It was going to cost him all kinds of political capital. Instead it was the inspiration for "The Party Of No™." Or the kerfuffle over the torture memos, and the talk of not prosecuting, but what does that mean, and will they really turn a blind eye, and—"whoa, did you see how brazen these neoclowns were in this twisted legal reasoning, holy shit, now Americans are gonna get angry."
It seems that these bad decisions aen't always so terrible after all. So going forward, I found it pays not to take everything from this White House at ace value, and to see how things develop.
So if you want to bash Obama for his (sometimes apparently egregious) decisions, I won't stop you. Heck, it may be the time that three months down the road, it turns out it really was a bad move. And it's a free country; there's a lot I want to see from this White House, and I wish it weren't the case that every announcement, every word, every gesture had to be part of some grand political calculation that will take days or weeks to play out. But sadly, there's still that herd of Goposaurs to deal with, and for the next eighteen months, Obama, the Congress, the Administration, and the rest of us are stuck with them.
And I might just join you. Sometimes I get a little fed up with all the bullshit of Washington politics, too. If you argue a good case, you might even get a rec on the comment.
But if you are going there, and don't step on the brakes before you go off the "Obama=Cheney" cliff, I will give you the life preserver for your fall. Because equating the current Administration to the last one, well, to me, that sounds like conspiracy theory talk. And if it's "bannable," I got no problem with donuting it.
Because The HB ≠ that other diarist.
He's Obama to my Dick.