Executive Power

Sully is shocked that Obama hasn't rolled back Bush's unprecedented over-reach of executive power:

Obama as executive quickly co-opted the kind of blanket secrecy and protection of the national security apparatus from the rule of law that plagued us in the Bush-Cheney administration. Yes, torture ended. That matters a huge amount. He will always deserve credit for that. Of course, i have to trust him on this, since there is precious little way for someone outside the government to test this or know this for sure.

But Obama's insistence on protecting every Bush era war criminal and every Bush era war crime from any redress or even scrutiny is a sign both of how cold-blooded he can be, but more, I think, of how powerful the security state now is, how it can protect itself, how it exists independently of any real accountability to anyone, how even the metrics of judging it are beyond the citizen's reach or understanding.

While I'm disappointed, since I have a brain in my head I am not surprised at all:

To even dream that ANY president would roll back executive power is a pretty far-fetched dream of naivete. It's like breaking up with your high school girlfriend and thinking that with her next boyfriend she'll start back at necking and light petting. Sorry Skippy, but she picks up right where she left off - toothy blowjobs and ball-licking.

Sully is correct that as long as we insist on being scared into surrenduring the very liberties we pretend to love so much, we'll fall for this shit over and over.

There are legitimate trade-offs between national security and liberty. But the protection of war criminals where no secrets are at stake except the scandal of torture itself is not one of them. Alas, there are few such citizens around. And, most tragic of all, those who say they care about liberty above all - the tea-partiers who invoke the founders - seem only too willing to surrender every liberty for the prize of a security we cannot even know exists, and to bow down before a new king (and probably warrior-queen) rather than elect a new president.

Until the planet hurtles into the Sun, there will always be a chance some dude will walk into the Pizza Hut and blow me up (probably while I'm waiting for those fucking dessert pizzas to get the fuck outta my face.) In the meantime, I'd prefer my money go to productive things like healthcare and potholes than torture. But hey, that's me - other likes include movies, long walks on the beach and the smell of cut grass.