Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Obama Crossroads: Saint or Sinner?
1 comments
We've reached an early demarcation line in the sandy ground sitting beneath the Obama era. And surprisingly quickly, too, I believe.
Jonathan Turley, a Constitutional scholar often seen on MSNBC, clearly states that Barack Obama is in jeopardy of legally becoming an "accessory" to war crimes if no one from the George W. Bush years faces prosecution. At the same time, officials in the UN are making serious noises about the need for the Obama administration to hold the criminal behavior of the Bush administration to account. This is an issue that is growing very fast.
The concept of holding an American administration to account for the murderous or fully unconstitutional machinations of its members is unprecedented in the annals of U.S. history. But, as much as most of Institutional America wants to sweep these horrors perpetrated in our name under the rug, events and the will of the American people may not allow that to happen. This issue is gaining momentum almost daily. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was against Impeachment, but oddly seems to think prosecution is just fine. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) seemed to sign on this weekend.
Forcing Obama directly into a position he apparently seems to want to avoid at all costs. Except he can't. He keeps urging the country to "look forward" to some shining city of "Hope" on a hill, but the American public seemingly can't get enough of both Bush and Dick Cheney and everyone connected to them. Aside from wingnut blogger Michele Malkin and her kind, Americans seem hellbent on seeing this through to the final conclusion.
And, yes. This is a very Big Thing.
The entire Obama legacy may well be determined by his actions on this one issue in his first month in office.
No pressure, mind you...
The question we must soberly begin to consider as he sets to cleaning up the premises after the eight-year-long Bush frat party (complete with murderous hazing on a global scale), is this:
"How Status Is Our Quo?"
We can safely assume the Obama team will clean up the Bush mess: clean out the pool, pulling the toupees out of the filters and bras out of the drains; repair the holes in the walls; throw out all the empties (as in, banks); and pull the Lexus out of the front hallway where someone drove it a few years back and most likely cut off Rush Limbaugh's oxycontin supply. Sure, Obama'll fix the economy kinda-sorta, he'll develop counseling programs for all those underage boys and girls pawed and groped by GOP officials locally and in DC and re-order the mechanisms of government back to their purpose of actually governing, and return to the nation all of the basic and cosmetic functioning of daily federal life.But what of the larger issue? The seismic, core financial demographic shift that has plagued our nation for decades now: The jetstream funneling all wealth upwards, fueling the return of John Edwards' Two Americas—not so much "rich and poor" this time, but rather "nobles and serfs." What really will we be watching happen these next four years? Who will Barack Obama be answering to in the next four years?
The first clear signal of where Obama will be going on this now stands upon this issue which rests upon the bedrock of this nation—its laws and judical system.
Simply put: Are we a nation of laws, or are we not?
That's very clear and unambiguous. Obama even taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago for a bit, so he can't "misunderestimate." He knows. Laws were broken. People died. Money was stolen. All on a grand, theatrical scale.
In The United States of America, perpetrators are brought to the bar, assumed to be innocent, then prosecuted. If convicted (and I'm not exactly sure who a jury of the former president's "peers" would be in this scenario—John Howard? Hugo Chavez?), logically, they would then face sentence—perhaps, even a harsh one. Perhaps, a capital one.
As with any community, if you do not stand up to crime and extinguish it by punishment, it comes back. Often, more deadly than before. Vermin always return—unless they know it's safer if they don't.
The Powers That Be want this all to go away. Obama wants to "move forward." The American people just want their country back.
Which way will Obama go?
And when he decides, what will We The People do?
The entire future of the Obama administration rests squarely on what course he follows on the issue of both war crime and federal statute criminal prosecutions. There's certainly plenty of both. Certainly, he can always sweat the small stuff, or not. But he can't run away from this big one. As they say, the jury is still out.
At what point does America's shout of "Yes, We can!" turn into "Yes, You'd better!"
Buckle up, folks, we're in for a bumpy ride.
posted by Gotham 5:06 PM
1 Comments:
I don't believe President Obama has the political capital to carry out such a thing. Or the stomach for it. Surely, you're not counting on the spineless Democratic leadership in Congress to pursue this issue further. They had ample opportunity and chose not to.
The Republicans, on the other hand, have demonstrated steadfast resolve when it comes to confronting the Dems on this level, although their might was used in a pigheaded fashion vis-a-vis President Clinton. Sadly, this might come down to a Pinochet-like situation, with Bush and/or co-horts facing a legal ambush during a foreign visit abroad. Then again, what are the chances of that? I don't foresee Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc leaving the country any time soon, knowing there's a bull's eye on their backs.
By 
Kiko Jones, at
January 28, 2009 4:29 AM
