Sep
25
An Inexperienced White House?
Filed Under American Politics | 1 Comment
This is a fairly damning report by the Washington Post on how the White House has got the closing of Guantanamo wrong so far:
Even before the inauguration, President Obama’s top advisers settled on a course of action they were counseled against: announcing that they would close the facility within one year. Today, officials are acknowledging that they will be hard-pressed to meet that goal.
With four months left to meet its self-imposed deadline for closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Obama administration is working to recover from missteps that have put officials behind schedule and left them struggling to win the cooperation of Congress.
…The White House has faltered in part because of the legal, political and diplomatic complexities involved in determining what to do with more than 200 terrorism suspects at the prison. But senior advisers privately acknowledge not devising a concrete plan for where to move the detainees and mishandling Congress.
This issue has been mishandled. The White House never got any sort of consensus on the project, even from Democrats and there was no process put in place for where to detain the prisoners before the announcement to close Guantanamo was made.
This administration have from time to time misread their mandate from the voters, and this is one such occasion. In a November poll, only 29% of Americans agreed that Obama should close down Guantanamo. There has been some silly scare-mongering on this subject. A detainee held in a high security prison in mainland U.S.A. is no more dangerous than one held at Guantanamo, but nevertheless, that is often the perception, and the Administration should have done more to calm those concerns by having a solution in place before rushing to make the announcement.
It’s reasonable to accept some early teething problems from a new administration and maybe this is all that is. But mistake it was, and there are still no mechanisms in place for housing the detainees. For now the closure is delayed and with 2010 being an election year, I wonder if it might be delayed further.
Aug
25
Another Obama = Bush Story
Filed Under American Politics | 3 Comments
So let’s see. Bush was condemned for the indefinite detention of terrorist prisoners. Obama is continuing that process. Bush was criticised for the killing of innocents in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama is killing more of them (24%). Bush was criticised for the secrecy surrounding prisoners at Guantanamo. Well different place, but for Bush’s Guantanamo, just read Obama’s Bagram.
And now another Bush era tactic for fighting terrorism is being continued by Obama. Rendition. From the New York Times:
The Obama administration will continue the Bush administration’s practice of sending terrorism suspects to third countries for detention and interrogation
In Obama’s own words:
To build a better, freer world, we must first behave in ways that reflect the decency and aspirations of the American people. This means ending the practices of shipping away prisoners in the dead of night to be tortured in far-off countries, of detaining thousands without charge or trial, of maintaining a network of secret prisons to jail people beyond the reach of the law.
Don’t get me wrong, I welcome the fact that Obama realises that his first duty is to protect the American people. I also welcome the fact that, although he hasn’t said it yet, the fact that Obama is carrying on these measures proves that the fight against terrorism is not the cut and dried sanitised affair that Bush’s critics seem to think.
If, as these stories reveal, Obama is carrying on Bush’s approach to keeping America safe, the way that either one is viewed needs to be re-appraised. One can not be condemned whilst the other is exalted, that is inconsistent and illogical.
Jun
11
President Obama has found a home for his troublesome Uighur terrorists. Not Germany, not somewhere in the Middle East and not as Americans feared, in the United States either. Nope, the brand new place for dumping terrorists is the Pacific Island of Palau.
As per HotAir:
President Johnson Toribiong said Palau was accepting the detainees “as a humanitarian gesture” intended to help them restart their lives. His archipelago, with a population of about 20,000, will accept up to 17 of the detainees subject to periodic review, Toribiong said in a statement released to The Associated Press.
That’s jolly nice of them to do it as a humanitarian gesture. What nice people. Unfortunately, this ‘humanitarian gesture’ comes at a price, $200 million to be precise. This doubling of their GDP is Obama’s bribe to have Palau take a troublesome political dilemma off his hands. I wonder how many calls the Obama administration had to make dangling $200M as an incentive before they finally reached Palau. That’s a long call sheet.
What price terrorism? $12 milion per head it seems.
We’ve had some discussions on here about how America has used it’s economic muscle to force smaller nations to it’s will. I wonder how bribing a tiny nation to house terrorists fits into that theme.
Jun
3
The Obama Disconnect
Filed Under American Politics | 34 Comments
President Obama’s approval ratings have stayed high (averaging in the low 60’s) with little recent change despite an early fall in support. However, there seems to be a disconnect between this popularity and the popularity of some of his actions. On a number of issues, Americans are decidedly against Obama policies. Some of the polls:
Guantanamo (Rasmussen)
49% oppose closing Guantanamo
38% agree
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25% agree with Obama that Guantanamo weakens national security
51% disagree
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57% oppose moving inmates to American prisons
28% favour the move
On The GM Bailout
21% favour GM Bailout plan
67% oppose it
Cap And Trade (with personal costs factored in) (IBD/TIPP)
23% support Obama’s Cap and Trade Plan
63% Oppose it.
NB There are polls which show support for Cap and Trade but they don’t factor in how much Cap and Trade will cost each consumer.
O.K., those are only three polls and no doubt there will be polls showing support for some of Obama’s policies. However, those three polls are fundamental planks of Obama’s direction and with some of them, the disparity between Obama’s position and that of the public is stark.
So the question is, why is there this disconnect? I think that it is largely about Obama not being Bush, that Americans are hopeful about an Obama Presidency and that they are willing to give him a chance. the recession is still Bush’s recession, the wars are still Bush’s wars, the stimulus is still in it’s early days and Cap and Trade and healthcare reform are still not on the statute books. As for the growing deficits, their full impact is not yet apparent.
But Obama will eventually be seen to have ownership of the recession and the wars, Bush will fade into a distant memory and the excitement and novelty value of Obama’s historic Presidency will start to wane. It may be then that the disconnect between Obama’s personal popularity and the unpopularity of some of his policies start to become more connected.
Jun
2
General Petreaus For 2012?
Filed Under American Politics | 18 Comments
Not as a Republican it seems!
The Corner is reviewing a speech by General Petreaus which will make uncomfortable reading for his former commander in chief.
The quotes from the speech:
What I do support is what has been termed the responsible closure of Gitmo. Gitmo has caused us problems, there’s no question about it.
When we have taken steps that have violated the Geneva Conventions,
I think it’s important to again live our values, to live the agreements that we have made in the international justice arena and to practice those.
Andy McCarthy at The Corner calls this vapid and that he is just repeating the standard talking points of his commander in chief. Personally, I think a man of the caliber of Petreaus has to be listened too, he does command the army in the very areas affected by the bad Gitmo publicity.
It was Moveon.org that referred to Petreaus as General Betray Us. Perhaps some Republicans will have some sympathy for that moniker.
May
20
Obama and Guantanamo
Filed Under Uncategorized | 62 Comments
I’m interested to know your views on the latest news from the US that the Senate have voted 90-6 against funding the closing of Guantanamo and bring the prisoners to U.S. soil.
Has the demagogue-in-chief been out demagogued on this one. It seems that the Republican tactic of focusing on terrorist being brought to U.S. soil has caused a bit of a public backlash that has caused Democratic Senators to (at least temporarily) drop their support for Obama on this issue.
So
- Is this a major defeat for Obama or just a temporary setback?
- Are Congressional Democrats showing some teeth towards a President whose political capital cup runneth over?
- Where now on Guantanamo?
Over to you fine minds.