So apparently I'm supposed to be disappointed in Barack Obama once again. And I am. But here's the thing -- I never forgot that Obama was going to be elected President of the United States, not President of My Personal Fantasy. (Else, it would have been President River Tam by all 50 states and DC.)
There are two things every President tries to do, with the only real variant being success:
1) Increasing the prestige and power of the United States,
2) Increasing the prestige and power of the President of the United States.
So yes, Obama has not gone as far on torture as I would like. But he's gone a damn sight farther than McCain would have, and lest I remind you that's the whole fucking point.
There are two things every President tries to do, with the only real variant being success:
1) Increasing the prestige and power of the United States,
2) Increasing the prestige and power of the President of the United States.
So yes, Obama has not gone as far on torture as I would like. But he's gone a damn sight farther than McCain would have, and lest I remind you that's the whole fucking point.
4 comments:
Only President River Tam could make me abandon libertarianism. Possibly Prim Minister Cameron Baum.
While I understand where you are coming from, need I remind you that the lesser of two evils is still evil.
Just sayin.
Do you really think you need to remind people that the lesser of two evils is still evil?
Really?
Our election system is all about choosing the person who will do the least amount of damage in the role they've taken. That's it - that's about all any democratic system operates, but it's a bigger problem in an empire.
If you expect anything more than that of an electoral system of any stripe, you're living in a fantasy land. The only thing that puts a democracy ahead of other forms of government is that citizens actually get some level of say about who is going to cause the least amount of damage, rather than being stuck with whoever the current guy picks or the result of a bloody coup.
--NonyNony
Indeed. As I said a my own place, I'm still waiting for some actual examples of people who genuinely thought they'd never be disappointed by Obama. For some reason, people like Klein just refuse to provide such examples. I wonder why that would be.
My only real disappointment is that I thought he would actually be different than Bush. so far, not so much.
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