The Obama Disappointment

I know.

I know, I know, I know.

Its only been about 3 months since he took office. Give the guy a chance right? Wait for the first 100 days right? Well, unfortunately there are signs that Obama is not all that different than Bush and is prepared to continue with the many parts of the last regimes program.

1. The Torture Memos - while admitting there was torture (finally, a good thing) he has given the torturers the Nuremburg defense. They were just following orders. So, he coninues to deny justice for the victims and protect the guilty. He seems to want to reserve the right to torture if he feels its needed too. Just like Bush.
2. Bush and Cheney - while clearly both of these men committed war crimes (as the above Torture Memos indicate), Obama is not prosecuting. He is not investigating. There is nothing.
   
3. Maher Arar - still on the no fly list, despite being proven innocent. No reasons given.
4. Wiretapping - despite claiming it was dangerous, he voted as a Senator to keep the program going and now wishes to continue to use it.
5. Packing the Justice Deptartment - and packing it with RIAA lawyers. RIAA LAWYERS. What on earth is THAT?
6. Stimulus Spending - started by Bush and Obama is merely continuing it. Where is the change in that? Well except for those who attend teaparties now that a Democrat is doing it.
7. Closing Gitmo - while this is another good thing, its been put off for a year, rather than immediate. This means, of course, that he could change his mind next December. It also says nothing of the other black prisons around the world that continue to operate.
8. Habeas Corpus - it is still unclear, even after Gitmo being closed, whether habeas corpus still means anything in the US.
9. Withdraw from Iraq - except its in 3 years and meanwhile most of those guys will go to Afghanistan. So how exactly is this a withdraw from Iraq? Why haven't the permanent bases been closed?

All of these were obvious abuses and wrongs from 8 years of the Bush presidency. To my civil libertarian mind, there is no reason to go slow on any of these. My hope, despite being an anrachist who despised all government, that at least Obama would be principled enough to right these wrongs, even while I fully expected him to screw up economically. If I were still and NDP member, almost everything in that list would still disappoint me.

Well clearly I am wrong.

The only conclusion I can come to is that once he obtained the power that Bush and Cheney wrought - the power to ignore the US Constitution at will, the power to hold people without trial and the power to torture if desired. This is change?

Meet the New Boss, same as the old boss.

Update:



Its getting worse and worse.