nixon

Re: the torture photos, I'm with you on this one. I can understand why politically this is a can of worms that Obama doesn't want opened, but I'm of the opinion that (as an American) evil was done in my name and by god I want answers. The worst part is the increasing amount of evidence that Cheney & co. tortured not out of fear of a ticking bomb scenario, but to elicit confirmation of ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda which--surprise, surprise--tortured prisoners made up to satisfy their torturers. To quote Jesse Ventura (who on this matter is on the side of the angels): "You give me a waterboard, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders."

Ugh. Enough of that. Thought I'd let you know that I'm coming to SF next weekend to Prom. I hope I get to see your smiling face once or twice.

This is on the long list of shit Obama has to deal with that Bush gave him. I made a comment on an Internet forum I frequent about how I thought this was pretty weak, and the general consensus I received was that Obama is not trying to deny that abuses took place. He just thinks that these photos are not going to help him pursue his agenda, which is essentially the mandate he was elected for. Obama is a political creature. He understands that time is a political asset, and if he spends it, he won't get it back. The more time he is forced to spend on witch hunts in the CIA/military bureaucracy, the less time he gets to spend on universal health care, economic reform and recovery, etc. He's a Democrat; he's a butter-before-guns sorta dude. If he makes punishing people a focus of his Presidency, he's going to lose the support of a lot of moderate Democrats which is going to make stuff like getting his plans through Congress more difficult. And unlike His Excellency Dubya, Obama believes in the legislative process.

It's a tough situation to be in.