OK, so I just heard this little nugget on local news and found the
AP article. Apparently Obama doesn’t think we’ve done a good job of assessing risks while letting Camp Delta detainees go. Fine, I don’t work there, I’m just sitting on my couch.
But he says the Bush administration’s policy of holding detainees for years on end with no trials is “unsustainable,’ and has only fueled anti-American sentiments.
WTF? “Unsustainable?” I could be overreacting here, completely possible, but doesn’t he mean “unconstitutional?” The way we currently drill is “unsustainable,” rather than completely wrong. See the difference? I’m trying to see this as a simple disagreement in semantics, but I honestly don’t think it is. I believe it’s preparation for a gigantic backpedal on an issue most see as non-negotiable.
Most of the Obama flips, or partial flips, I kind of get, however, this Bush debacle has been ruled on by the Supreme Court
more than once. It’s wrong, put on your big boy pants and get rid of it. If that’s still Obama’s intent and he really misspoke, correct it.
There’s not alot on this slip/backpedal/my personal overreaction, but the
NYT published an editorial on this and other mixed signals from the Obama Administration.
If someone can explain how I’m wrong, I’ll be happy to apologize and delete the diary.
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It’s just another “slip of the tongue” with no significance, like the Special Olympics remark.
Main Entry: unsustainable
Part of Speech: adj
Definition: not able to be maintained or supported in the future, esp. without causing damage or depletion of a resource
Yep, there are many words to describe the horrible situation we’re in at Guantanamo. But I think Obama’s use of Unsustainable is purposely non-inflammatory, and correct.
His point that the Bush Administration bungled even the release review process for the prisoners should be no big surprise.
I’ll wait to hear the entire interview tonight on 60 minutes before getting my undies in a twist 😉
but it’s easily undone. Here’s hoping.
Quick disclaimer: I edited the diary while you were posting this.
Thanks for explaining the shifting diary underneath my reply. I wondered how I missed half the post the first time!
But, even reading the NYT editorial, it just reinforces my opinion that Obama is being pragmatic in trying to keep the focus on fixing the problems (all the problems, not just Guantanamo) without making them any worse. The NYT was about 90% supportive of his approach. Their bottomline issue was to have a full accounting of the Bush errors (something I support — by historians, not tribunals).
But I understand Obama’s reluctance to have a steady drip of news for the next year over the criminal acts of the Bush administration distracting and very possibly defeating his primary mission to put the train back on the tracks.
I think the stakes are so high and the margin for error is so slender, that as great as the Bush Administration’s crimes may be, we need to hold off on his day of reckoning for now.