Frustration with Obama's actions [or lack of actions] can been seen not only here, but on other progressive/liberal web sites, and by listening in to callers of the few liberal talk shows on radio.
Comparisons to the Nuremberg Trials in light of Obama's statement about prosecuting CIA personnel was just today on the recommended diary list.
Some of us here are very angry and disappointed. Some of the statements made are the result of venting, and the characterizations are more emotional than really analytical. I'd really like to see more care used when throwing around loaded terms, but hey .. I vent too sometimes.
Anyway. Onto my title subject, and my two cents.
The balance of power, I was told in my sophomore year in High School by the US History teacher is akin to a stool with three legs, from concepts of English Common Law that pre-date our nation and the Constitution.
Executive, Legislative and Judicial. A simple concept, the stool only functions if all three legs are intact and in balance.
And it's more than just the obvious: it's the way power is administered inside the Executive Branch.
Over the past 8 years, the very structure of the way our government works was severely damaged. Bush's signing Statements, Executive Orders, and concept of Unitary Executive affected all Federal Agencies. Bush's political appointees burrowed into from NOAA to NASA and the NIH, .. there are about 800 Federal agencies, many of them defense related.
Look, and expand on the major categories.
It's truly mind boggling, the scope of these agencies and how they impact every aspect of our daily lives as well as the nature of planning for the future.
http://www.usa.gov/...
http://www.lib.lsu.edu/...
Each one of those agencies has had 8 years of bush Executive influence overriding the laws passed by Congress and rejection of spirit of Court decisions.
President Obama has already raised his hand made some pronouncements.
He has said we reject torture. I believe him.
He has said we are a nation of laws. I believe him.
Steps have been take to restore science to agencies must run on it, those 'N' agencies NOAA, NASA and the NIH I listed above are just a few of hundreds that cry out for logic and facts, not political back door deals.
So why doesn't President Obama simply raise his hand and smite "the evildoers", create an Executive Order for every situation that comes up? {He has already used a few EOs where it was appropriate, primarily to reverse some of the worst of the Bush EOs.}
Perhaps it's because the very system of power, and the way that power is implemented has been corrupted. Barack Obama, the Constitutional lawyer understands the need for balanced government, and realizes the damage splayed in front of him, before he even was elected he knew the tasks ahead. Barack Obama the President does not want to perpetrate additional damage done by the previous administration by continuing the Unitary Executive of Bush.
There are good political reasons why, as well as long term sustainable reasons why the Federal Court and Congress must necessarily be involved with reversing some of the damage done by Bush. Both the Court and Congress must show they have the right to get this power back. It cannot simply be mandated by Obama.
Precedents and legislation must be created to ensure abuses like these never happen again.
To restore balance any other way is to invite more disaster down the road, I personally believe this is a core operating concept that Barack Obama sees. If not, then I most surely as mistaken as I have ever been in my life about judging the nature of person.
Yes. We are all extremely frustrated by apparent actions taken by the DOJ in apparent "defense of torture", "defending the illegal actions of the Bush Administration". The outrage is heard from some on the Left day after day. Over the top rhetoric that "we are becoming a Police State", that "Obama is a sell-out, a DINO" .. I've heard and seen every version imaginable.
Here's what I think Barack Obama the Constitutional scholar is doing. I think he is letting the DOJ set up cases that will be brought to either the Federal Circuit or Supreme Courts for adjudication, to clearly reassess and abuses of the power of the Unitary Executive. To set those precedents: Stare decisis, that I have heard about so much about even though I am not a lawyer: I know this much, that it is powerful and carries weight. It is sustainable change.
Look at what Eric Holder has just done. He has just replaced the DOJ ethics chief with Mary Patrice Brown. It took one complaint of "moving too slow" and one day for Holder to act and move the current head of the OPR out.
Look at Barack's appointees Dawn Johnsen as head of the OLC, and Harold Koh as legal advisor to the State Dept.
Yup, it sure is frustrating as hell for us as spectators.
We want change, and we want it right now.
But I submit we are seeing change, from the inside out.
It's happening, if one wants to look carefully, it is there.
(And yes, the financial situation is different.
Here, before any change happens, the previous structure of capitalism must be restored, or else total economic bedlam will result. So Obama is calling those people who know the system from the inside out to make it work again. I have NO doubt that once stability is restored moves will be made to stop the criminal casino like atmosphere which infests our financial system.
We must restore public confidence in the economic system before we can fix all the problems. There is simply no other way to get it done. Remarkably, almost amazingly that sense of confidence is returning, even in the midst of this horrible mess. People see responsible adults in charge. We may not agree with every detail; we should raise our voices when we see problems. But let's realize confidence that we have a working system is primary and must happen before structural changes are made.)
What I see is a President who came into Office and saw a overly powerful and yet damaged Presidency, a gross imbalance in governance. He cannot simply rescind by himself the power back to Congress and the Courts that George W Bush illegally took. President Obama can help set up those situations which allow Congress and the Courts to reassert themselves, and restore this sense of balance.
I feel this is exactly what he is doing.
It will take time to reverse and restore the balance; it was a full 8 years of mind boggling abuse of power. Do we not remember in the first months of the Bush Administration Cheney's Energy Task Force? Do we not remember Cheney's insistence that the Vice-Presidency was neither Executive or Legislative in nature?
Every agency and function of the Federal Government has been perverted, twisted and compromised for political agenda. The Unitary Executive of GW Bush and the perverted interpretation of Vice-Presidential power under Cheney must be reversed. Clearing away the rubble and bringing back common sense and a sense of trust is going to take months, perhaps years, and a lot of effort.
We must let this all play out, for the long term health of the nation. I think we are VERY fortunate that we have this President to help us restore our government.
I was not so sure a year ago. However, I feel very confident today that Barack Obama is the right person for this job, and I am very glad I had a hand in hiring him.