Weekly Standard: Obama "should be praised" for defying "the left" on detainee abuse photos

[Old Hank]

Today's decision by President Obama not to release dozens of photos purportedly showing detainee abuse by U.S. forces, prompted William Kristol's Weekly Standard magazine/blog to opine that Obama "keeps growing in office," for this and other recent National Security measures.

Excerpt:

President Obama is now commander in chief, and he has an obligation to the troops under his command that exceeds any promises made to liberal interest groups during the campaign. No one should question that Obama is doing this for the right reasons, but it must also be noted that the president, as Politico's Josh Gerstein explains, wants "to avoid giving Republican critics new fodder for attacks."

There are elements on the left that would expose the president to political danger, and the troops to mortal danger, only to see the last administration implicated in any kind of abuse. The president should be praised for resisting those elements even as his actions also serve his own self-interest. But President Obama has many other important decisions in front of him that put his campaign statements at odds with his responsibilities to the safety and security of American troops and the American public. Americans should hold out hope that President Obama may yet reverse himself entirely on the closure of Gitmo and that he will revive the use of harsh interrogation techniques if and when all other options are exhausted and the country is in imminent danger of attack. For now though, it's enough that President Obama seems to be growing in office.

Read story: http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/05/obama_keeps_growing_in_office.asp

[jefferson_dem]

"Sister Soulja Moment?"

Hmmm.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8405328

[phantom power]

1. Yes... because "defying the left" is the very definition of Rightness...

:eyes:

[villager]

6. so remind me why "the left" keeps helping put these "growing in office" Democrats in power?

:shrug:

[phantom power]

11. that is an inevitable consequence of our non-parliamentary democracy.

The stable basin of attraction is a two-party system, where minority political demographics like "left" or "right" are underrepresented.

A parliamentary system allows for a more diverse political ecosystem.

[FrenchieCat]

2. Might have just have been an embarassing calendar malfunction...

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (on May 25 in 2009). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day

[Cha]

3. I don't care if kristol

agrees. I can see P Obama's reasoning for it.

[depakid]

4. I can see his reasoning too

He want to move along- and not worry about petty concerns like upholding the rule of law.

[Cha]

5. You can't see nothing past your

petty snarks.

[Old Hank]

7. I assume that you disagreed with him when he vowed to release the pictures

A few months ago. Is that accurate?

[depakid]

10. "Is that accurate? ...errr NO

The single most important thing I thought Obama would do is restore the rule of law and hold people (like the toturers, the banksters, and others whose behavior flagranted violated fedeal statutes) accountable.

Not only haven't we seen much of that at all, even in the most egregious cases- it's beginning to appear that we never will.

If so, that's a pretty sad indictment of any administration.

[eleny]

8. I thought he was defying the court

[librechik]

9. Second Circuit court of Appeals are "the Left?"

The Law is "the Left?"


:shrug:

[Uncle Joe]

12. This is a lie

"In each instance, Obama won praise from his critics, who were rightly pleased to see the president's much-hyped pragmatism win out over the ideological promises he made during the campaign. The left has for years argued that the war on terror polices of the last administration drove young Muslims to al Qaeda, that the sight of detainees being held without trial served only to help the jihadists with recruitment. Whether there is any evidence for this is unclear, but it is a real argument. What cannot be argued, what is incontrovertible, is that the photos of abuse at Abu Ghraib did aid our enemies and put the lives of U.S. soldiers at risk. We can assume that another round of photos would have had the same effect. That is, the only salutary effect of such a move would have been to soothe the consciences of American liberals who suspect American troops to be war criminals and desperately want the pictures to prove it."


It wasn't the "sight" of the detainees being held indefinitely without trial, or the "photos", it was the "policy" of torture which aided our enemies and put the lives of U.S. Soldiers at risk.


"President Obama is now commander in chief, and he has an obligation to the troops under his command that exceeds any promises made to liberal interest groups during the campaign. No one should question that Obama is doing this for the right reasons, but it must also be noted that the president, as Politico's Josh Gerstein explains, wants "to avoid giving Republican critics new fodder for attacks."

These would be the same critics which either endorsed those polices of torture; that in turn led to a war with Iraq based on lies or their apologists.

"There are elements on the left that would expose the president to political danger, and the troops to mortal danger, only to see the last administration implicated in any kind of abuse. The president should be praised for resisting those elements even as his actions also serve his own self-interest. But President Obama has many other important decisions in front of him that put his campaign statements at odds with his responsibilities to the safety and security of American troops and the American public. Americans should hold out hope that President Obama may yet reverse himself entirely on the closure of Gitmo and that he will revive the use of harsh interrogation techniques if and when all other options are exhausted and the country is in imminent danger of attack. For now though, it's enough that President Obama seems to be growing in office."

To the contrary, the elements on the left believe fighting against the rule of law, and the judgment of the appeals court regarding suppressing evidence of war crimes exposes the President to "political danger". The left also believes to suppress the dynamics which would be created by the photographic record detailing those war crimes supported by the previous administration would dampen the momentum for accountability; thus negating any argument that the U.S. truly stands by the rule of law against barbaric actions such as torture and this would lower our national standing around the world putting our troops in a higher degree of "mortal danger."

[Sensitivity]

13. Obama should be praised for TRYING TO FOCUS ON HIS SOCIALIST HEALTH-CARE, ENERGY AND EDUCATION PLANS