Obama = Clinton?
Ignatius wonders whether the move to block the release of more Abu Ghraib photos is Obama’s Sister Souljah moment, establishing centrist cred. I dunno, looks like more flaming hypocrisy and gutless lack of conviction in everything he ran on. Also, now that he’s actually responsible for something for the first time in his professional life, the last thing he wants to be is responsible for something. It does have a kind of Clintonian finger-to-the-wind quality, though.
Ignatius notes moralism has been a troubled road for Obama.
Obama seems to have concluded that to achieve the right balance on controversial Bush-era issues such as interrogation — summed up in the president’s frequent admonition that we need to look forward rather than backward — he will have to disappoint some liberal supporters. Specifically, his second thoughts about releasing the detainee photos upset the American Civil Liberties Union, which thought it had an administration promise to release the pictures by May 28 in response to an ACLU lawsuit.
Obama had tried to strike that forward-not-backward balance earlier, accompanying last month’s release of CIA interrogation memos with a promise not to pursue a witch hunt against CIA officers who were following Justice Department legal advice. But that blew up in his face, triggering precisely the spasm of backward-looking recrimination and CIA angst that Obama had hoped to avoid.
I’m not sure it is precisely the backward-looking recrimination and CIA angst he hoped to avoid. Who would have thought releasing the torture memos of the hated Bush-Cheney regime would make Democrats look that bad?
In releasing the torture memos, Obama had rejected counterarguments from CIA Director Leon Panetta. But he seems to have listened to similar warnings from his military commanders who argued that flooding the Internet with a new batch of photos of Americans engaging in shocking practices would put U.S. soldiers in danger without a commensurate public benefit.
Or commensurate political benefit, whatever. So is this a grand Sister Souljah moment, or did he just pass the latest pop quiz in that tricky Petard Hoistment 101 class? Whichever, raise your hand if you think being compared on moral positions with Bill Clinton is a good thing.
Powerline: You gt to know when to Holder ‘em.
Tragic, how moral waffling … just trying to do the right thing, damn it … comes with its own ass-biteage problems. Cillezza at the Washington Post’s Fix on how the left is rising up against The Won. Huh, howbout that. Maybe we should check in on some of our pals as their guy stumbles about in this moral morass.
Balloon Juice is morally outraged … that some people still haven’t learned to turn their cell phones off!
(Andrew McCarthy at NRO’s The Corner notes that Gibbs, saved by the cellphone tones, was wrong and Obama, while getting centrist plaudits, is hiding behind judges’ robes.)
Insightful moral commentary from Whiskey Fire: “Fuck you … motherfucking centrist position … This is really all very elemental moral shit and fucking around with it will fuck everything up. Haven’t any of these Ivy League assholes read any fucking Sophocles or similar? Shit. And I thought they were educated. Fuck … ‘It was Sistah Souljah!’ Fuck … ”
Pretty impressive. It’s like he’s in the Fuck Olympics.
(Hey, anyone else notice how the lefty peaceniks like fierce-sounding names? “Whiskey Fire.” Maybe it’s about him being drunk, judging by the level of discourse over there. Then there’s that mysterious, wet yet flaming deep woodsy ”FireDogLake.” Technically, seeing as it’s run by a sheila, should be FireBitchLake, no? Meanwhile, FireDogBogg wants to know how come no one ever wants the flaming right to be centrist. Sounds like he’s so deep in the tank he can’t see the pond. More FDL mysticism in his title, “Also. I’ve also never been to me.” Huh? That lake’s too deep for me.)
Uh oh. Andrew Sullivan is having a “truth and power” moment.
Ace on Obama’s other moral dilemma: Whether to detain terrorist suspects indefinitely, without trial. He’s mulling it. Apparently this arch crime of the hated Bushitler McCheneyburton regime is not without merit.
Surber, re same, responsibility’s a bitch …
Hang on, another moralism minefield up ahead, and Obama’s charging in. Protein Wisdom on Obama’s plan to apply an “empathy” standard to his judicial appointments. Hey, I’ve know a few empathy-rich judges in my time. We’ve got a lot of them in Massachusetts. They often end up on the front page of the Boston Herald, after they release rapists and other violent victims of society.
More deeply sincere support for the troops via Malkin: Anti-war activist Purple Heart “Marine,” brave Winter Soldier with three tours in Iraq behind him, on top of surviving the 9/11 Pentagon attack … is a mental patient who made it all up. Ha! Sorry, wrong to laugh at mental illness, I know, but I love it when that happens. Oh yeah, he might be a thief, too.
Related, Hot Air on “the hilarity that Nancy Pelosi hath wrought,” has Chris Matthews explaining that of course he’d torture under extreme circumstances. It’s changing the definition that is criminal. Gateway meanwhile channels Our Dark Lord Rove re Pelosi.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:10 am on Thursday, May 14, 2009
6 Responses to “Obama = Clinton?”
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May 14th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
The commenters at Whiskey Fire are all certifiable. Apparently Bush is still in charge in their world.
Last time I looked Bush had gone and been replaced by Ogabe.
May 14th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Is this why my kneejerk-Democrat-voting in-laws don’t want to talk about President Obama anymore?
May 14th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
[...] 3: via Jules Crittenden David Ignatious votes Souljia and has a full round [...]
May 14th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
I have a finger to the wind for you…it’s the middle one. Come see us us at Whiskey fire anytime you asshats if you are looking for some intelligent commentary.
Love,
Jake T. Snake
May 15th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Julie, darling, perhaps it hadn’t occured to you that violating the basic tenets of humanity, nevermind the basic tenets upon which this country was founded, might enrage people who believe in morality and decency.
And don’t go around calling Jane Hamsher a “bitch”, but I digress.
As the esteemed DrDick in comments at WhiskeyFire said, So now we know how the Nazis were able to turn decent, honorable people like you and me into the monsters who perpetrated and enabled the Holocaust. So simple and easy really.
Think about it, son.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Did you just compare Barack Obama to a Nazi?