There's a diaryon the rec list telling us to count our blessings: we should be glad that our current President doesn't share our certainty in...well....certain principles. The diary says we should avoid "Doctrinaire Liberalism".
Well, maybe that's so. I've never really considered myself a liberal. Even before the RW noise machine turned "liberal" into a bad word, I preferred to think of myself as a progressive. Liberals are too "moderate" for me. After I share some of my "extremist" and "doctrinaire" principles, then you might understand why.
I am absolutely certain that nobody should be above the rule of law.
I am absolutely certain that torture should not be an instrument of the state.
I am absolutely certain that waterboarding is torture.
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Of course, there are some things I am not certain of.
I am not so certain that President Obama believes all powers of the Executive are subject to checks and balances.
I am not certain that the following is a good trend:
Watergate: the Rule of Law applies to everyone, except the President.
Investigations led to the imprisonment of senior Nixon Administration officials and the resignation of the President. President Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon and put him above the law (I am certain that putting Nixon above the law was a mistake that started this disturbing trend).
Iran-Conta: the Rule of Law applies to everyone, except senior Administration officials.
Investigations led to the imprisonment of a few junior Reagan Administration officials. The first President Bush put many senior officials above the law, by dispensing pardons as if they were party favors
Plamegate, Waterboarding, Iraq Invasion: The Rule of Law doesn't apply to anyone.
Nobody has gone to prison....yet
I am not certain that President Obama will enforce the rule of law against the war criminals from the Bush Administration (Yes, I am certain that there were war criminals in the Bush Administration).
I'm fairly certain that some of dKos's "pragmatic liberals" cringed when I used the dramatic and inflammtory term: "War Criminals".
I am fairly certain that, if the Obama Administration doesn't apply the rule of law to former Bush Administration officials, then this trend will continue and we'll see even worse law breaking from future Presidents.
But hey, what do I know; I can't see past my self-righteous certitude that the rule of law should apply to everyone. I'm too inflexible to grasp the idea that there is no crime so heinous, that it can't be ignored in the interests of political pragmatism.