Obama on Wiretapping, Rendition, and War: It's Time to Start Admitting that Ron Paul Was the Better Choice
I've already documented how Obama is still using mercenaries, just like the Bush administration. I documented how Obama hires the same Establishment schmucks for his administration and how he's equally in bed with Wall Street as Bush was.But it gets worse. I told you it would.
Now, with the Obama administration's stances on wiretapping, war in the Middle East, and secret and indefinite detention of enemy combatants, there's virtually no difference in Obama's stance from Bush's.
If you are surprised, you haven't been reading Simple Utah Mormon Politics. The election is over, but it's still not too late to remind you that if Ron Paul were president, these same problems would be well on the way to not being problems anymore. With Obama, they're just about as big as they ever were.
One thing that I appreciate about progressives: they are much better than
I just didn't think Olbermann could get fit to be tied over something that involved a Democrat president. I now have a great deal more respect for Olbermann, because he can.
most conservatives about blaming their own when their own go against their principles. Here's some of the things they've been talking about.The Father of Guantanamo. President Obama has ordered the eventual closure of the torture cells at Guantanamo, but, says Marie Cocco of TruthDig, what about Bagram?
[The president] must immediately reverse his own inexplicable support for the Bush administration’s policy of indefinite and secret detention as the fate for more than 600 detainees now held at the U.S. air base in Bagram, Afghanistan.Ron Paul has been unalterably opposed to renditions and torture. Obama? Well...only so-so.
Bagram is the father of Guantanamo.
When U.S. operatives under the Bush administration’s “war on terror” seized people around the globe on suspicion of terrorist ties, the prisoners often were sent first to Bagram, where, according to accounts by former detainees and human rights groups, many were brutalized before being shackled and shipped to what would become the notorious prison for alleged terrorists at the U.S. naval facility in Cuba.
Wiretapping. Part of the reason I like to watch Keith Olbermann is because he is so passionately entertaining when he gets fit to be tied. I just didn't think he could get fit to be tied over something that involved a Democrat president. I now have a great deal more respect for Olbermann, because he can. On April 7, Olbermann said
During his run for the presidency, Barack Obama, who taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago, argued strongly against the Bush administration‘s use of executive authority including its self-justification, its rationalization of the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens.Ron Paul has always been against the FISA encroachments that Obama now supports. Yes, "you can believe in" the fact that Barack Obama will change his mind to match that of his Establishment puppeteers.
...That was then, this is now. President Obama‘s Justice Department now is not just defending Bush officials from lawsuits surrounding National Security Agency domestic spying, but seeking to expand the government‘s authority by making it immune from any legal challenge regarding wiretapping—ever. Welcome to change you cannot believe in or sue over.
Special War Appropriations. Barack Obama and a host of other Democrats were white-not mad at George Bush for requesting special appropriations for prosecuting the war on terror. Now President Obama has made his first such crow-eating request. Marketplace says:
The Obama administration sent an $83 billion war supplemental to Congress, going back on his word to only fund wars through the normal budgeting process.Ron Paul noticed that the neo-cons, who started the war, are in gleeful support of Obama's failure to deliver on the change we thought we could believe in. Congressman Paul said
...Obama promised that he would fund the war in the normal budget process, and the Democrats made the same promise back in 2007 when they took over Congress. They couldn't keep it, and the White House is now saying this is absolutely the last time they'll do this...
Some may notice that the neo-conservatives who masterminded the policy of global interventions are not complaining about the level of military and foreign spending. This is because rather than drawing down our costly interventions, Obama is largely staying the course on these issues. In fact, this week a group of leading neoconservatives met to discuss how best to support the President on foreign policy! I am disappointed and concerned that, in spite of a change in leadership, we will remain the policeman of the world...Columnist Paul Craig Roberts
is another former Bush critic who is getting a sense of déjà vu from the new Obama administration. "Now we have the Democrats, and the assault on civil liberty continues"Who do you wish was President now?
Even a proud Obama supporter as myself can admit you're right, on these issues. Paul opposed the war, the expanding executive branch, and stood with the ACLU several times in demanding a restoration of habeas corpus. He even opposed Telco immunity and diluting the oversight of the FISA court.
ReplyDeleteBut there are only a few issues our country faces. I'm a small business owner as well as a civil liberties proponent, and I really can't imagine what a Ron Paul Economy would have looked like in the end (or anyone else who thinks letting these -- admittedly irresponsible and deserving of retribution -- banks fail).
Also, I understand the notion behind Paul's anti-IRS sentiments, and don't think it's meaningless in our dialog. I just question whether such ideas are realistic now that we are no longer a country of colonies and local militias.
if Ron Paul were president, these same problems would be well on the way to not being problems anymore.
ReplyDeleteOr if Nader, or Kucinich, were president.
One thing that I appreciate about progressives: they are much better than most conservatives about blaming their own when their own go against their principles.
I would tend to agree. I've heard a number of conservatives complain about how the liberal movement is hypocritical because they will allow "their" golden to get away with anything. These guys obviously haven't even glanced at HuffPo, Truthdig, Democracy Now, TruthOut, et al. Many have been highly critical from day one.
Ideology can be a good thing, because without it all politicians have to offer is the pursuit of power for its own sake. Ron Paul makes a good ideological spokesman, too, if you ignore some of his nuttier ideas.
ReplyDeleteThat said, a putative Ron Paul administration wouldn't work. The guy is older than McCain, he can't run the government by himself. Who would he appoint who could get the job done in State, Treasury, Defense?
I haven't entirely given up hope on President Obama, because he hasn't even been in office three months yet. The government isn't fully staffed, the priorities not all sorted out.
On torture and illegal surveillance, I hope Obama soon understands he hasn't got a lot of choices. These are not mere policy differences, because crimes have been committed and must be prosecuted.
Thanks for the comments, all. I just got back from an adventurous vacation in Pine Valley, Zion, and Bryce Canyon, Utah.
ReplyDeleteJason,
A Ron Paul economy would look like a shambles for a while, because it will have to for anyone who inherits the Bush economy. The benefit in this regard is that Paul would have already begun letting these banks fail, and the economy would have begun correcting itself. We would have then been well on the way to convincing congress to abolish the Federal Reserve. What you seem to be forgetting is that, because Obama is waiting to let the market correct itself, it will ultimately be far worse than what we would have been experiencing under a Paul administration.
Derek,
Or Nader, or Kucinich. You are corrrect!
I haven't checked out TruthOut very much, but I love HuffPo, TruthDig, and (as I implied in this article) Democracy Now. It's independent, honest news organizations like these that will help get us back on track and out of the clutches of the Establishment.
Richard,
I haven't given up on Obama either, because I don't think we can afford to, although I am bracing for the inevitable crash when his failed Geithnerian economic policies (which matched Bush's Paulsonian policies) finally hit the fan. I don't know who Ron Paul would have appointed for Defense, State, and Treasury, but I can assure you it wouldn't be the same Establishment retreads that Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama have selected. A breeze of fresh air unpolluted by the gaseous doctrine of the Establishment would be very healthy.
Frank
ReplyDeleteYou better be careful about being a Ron Pual supporter you just might be deemed a "right-wing extremist" by the Dept of Homeland Security.