Opinion: President-elect Obama will spend political capital every day he isn't investigating

[ThomWV]

Every day that passes after tuesday in which investigations of illegal activity by the Bush Administration aren't being held drains political capital from President-elect Obama. That is my feeling. I realize that the discression to hold hearings lies with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reed, but if Obama tells them to go ahead you can be certain they will. It is in his hands.

[stray cat]

1. Its an opinion - but people really care about their livlihood right now

[bluestateguy]

2. That's true

Frog marching Bush and Cheney et. al off to federal prison might make a lot of people feel good (the Left has an obsession with "feeling good" and "raising consciousness", etc.), but it won't put people to work again. Obama has a lot of political capital, and it needs to be used to fix the economy, not to make Code Pink feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Nothing else matters more than the economy. I am honestly willing to sacrifice a lot of what I want to see done and my personal agendas to see the economy fixed.

[Deja Q]

5. Well said.

There is plenty I will sacrifice as well, and have even spoken so in the past.

The economy affects everybody. Therefore that should be the #1 issue. Apart from national defense which is, more or less, on equal footing - how's that for riddlespeak...

[Old Codger]

14. SO

With you money trumps justice? In your world you would rather be working than seeing the right thing done? There is no reason on earth why they cannot do both, they have the means to do it. Actually they have the right to arrest * and his cohorts immediately and should do so.

[polmaven]

27. I don't know about you,

bu "in my world", I would certainly rather be working. Any criminal investigations should and will likely take at least 2nd place to putting people back to work, and giving them some security in their own lives.

Investigation is important, but is not the TOP priority by ANY means. Food and shelter come first.

[Old Codger]

28. Well

Actually I agree, I do not believe that anyone should ever go hungry or be cold in this country. In this day and age we are perfectly able to make this happen. It doesn't seem to happen usually but it could be done. My point is that they can do both at the same time, it will not take every single person in Justice to help with the recovery effort although if needed they should. My first choice would be Patrick Fitzgerald,although he is busy with the Illinois governor at this time maybe there is someone else good enough to at least get this started and get it out of congress and into someones hands that will actually do something more than posture and spout useless rhetoric. The longer they wait the less chance there is of anything concrete happening. Most likely they will appoint a "commission" to spend millions of dollars and years of time doing nothing and 25 years from now they will issue a report that really says nothing but sounds good. There is no reason on earth that the recovery effort and the prosecution cannot take place concurrently.

[lonestarnot]

17. Well dee dee dee! They are linked or maybe you just missed that!

[blm]

18. The economy GOT like this because financial crimes of the 80s and 90s were allowed to continue

thanks to the shutting down of investigations that were so close to fully revealing BushInc for what it is - a criminal, fascist operation.

[mmonk]

29. Then you won't mind if a crime against you is committed

and the authorities decide not to be bothered with prosecution and tell you to move forward.

[Deja Q]

3. Seconded.

[lonestarnot]

12. Misread! Unthirded and unturded too!

[blm]

16. They should be allowed to know WHY and HOW financial crimes of BushInc led to current condition.

Would any of us be suffering as a nation and world the last 8yrs if BCCI's financial and terrorism networks (as set up by Bush1 and his powerful cronies around the world) were allowed FULLER SCRUTINY and EXPOSURE in 1993-4?

[lonestarnot]

22. All the MORE reason to investigate!

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. First order of business is the economy.

I want very much to see Bush and Cheney in a place like Gitmo, but until the economy gets humming again America is in deeper trouble.

[lonestarnot]

13. The investigation will uncover some of the problems with the economy!

It must be done!

[mmonk]

6. You are correct.

There will be a continuous chipping away underneath. The theory that people will not care if they are free or not as long as they have enough money is a fallacy.

[Deja Q]

7. What did Janis Joplin say about the definition of freedom?

About having nothing left to lose?

Servalan made a more poignant phrase, and one that is far truer than anything lil' miss drug addict would ever have belched out: "The only free man is a dead man." In that context, I'll wait for freedom for a while...

[mmonk]

9. Whose birthday is today?

The longer injustice, the more the pressure mounts. The rich exist through all phases as do the poor.

[TZ]

8. when people are losing their jobs, livelihoods and HOMES

I think the fact that bush will or will not be investigated doesn't make a bit of difference. and shame on those snobby enough to think that being worried about the future of one's family is a BAD thing. This country has MUCH bigger fish to fry.

[lonestarnot]

19. Oh and no link to the economy with torture, illegal war of lies, and how they are now managing

job growth with the rest of their theft! FUCK HMMMMMMMMF! Get a fucking clue!

[mmonk]

30. Yeah, screw freedom. It doesn't matter if you are free, just that you have money

and comfort all the time.


signed,

the good people of Germany, 1932.

[TheCowsCameHome]

10. Actually, trying BushCo in abstentia would be fine with me

as long as good hardworking Americans can live reasonably normal, happy, healthy lives without worry of foreclosure, repossession, no healthcare, and all the other horrors facing so many of us now.

[ThomWV]

11. You all don't think Obama can walk and chew gum at the same time?

[lonestarnot]

15. Who said that?

[ThomWV]

20. Implicitly, all the posts that suggest that the only thing to be addressed is the economy

[lonestarnot]

21. Yeah. What is with people who can't make the link between the economy and the criminals!

:hurts:

[KharmaTrain]

23. He's One Man...

...and IMHO, I want him to focus on the major problems that have been left behind by this regime. We've got an economy in the shitter, two wars and a poorly damaged military, a culture of economic corruption that is as much, if not more, a direct threat to all of our lives (regulation and enforcement), a broken Justice Department, millions without any health care, even more facing homelessness and bankruptcy. The mess is thick and will require every bit of energy and "political capital" President Obama has.

That said, YES, the boooosh regime needs to be held accountable, and I don't think we've even scratched the surface of all the crimes that were committed. It wasn't just one person, it was systemic...and the future threat is to let any of these "Goodlings" to get away only to re-emerge in 10 years and never have been held accountable.

If there's any place that needs to lead in the investigating its both Congress and the Justice Department. Remember, any invetigation, subpoena and even question asked of the boooosh regime was met with silence or "executive privilidge". This will be gone tomorrow and with it the "sand" in the umpires eyes can start to be removed. A rejuvenated Justice Department won't pass on the investigations and obvious criminality we saw over the past 8 years and, if anything, could use going after Scholzman, Rove and others as a way to restore both their credibility and independence.

Then we can talk about war crimes...crimes committed not just against American or Iraqis, but against humanity...and the push to get the United Nations and World Court to do their own investigations into the Iraq invasion, torture and other crimes. Any attempts to restore this country's international standing weighs heavily on how this past regime is handled and judged.

My hopes are President Obama doesn't impede or intervene in an investigation and pushes for full disclosure and access to records that now are behind a stone wall. All the criminality that occured were discovered primarily due to the stupidity and hubris of those caught...I can only imagine all the other crimes that went on under the radar and yet to be uncovered. Here's hoping that President Obama can get a handle on the big problems so that we can focus more on who got us into these messes...meaning, we've turned the corner on the immediate crisis this nation faces.

Patience is a virtue...so is presistence. It's up to all of us not to forget the crimes and always call for accountability. They may get sick of hearing it, but until there's accountability, they deserve it. But this is a shared responsibility and the best thing President Obama can do is allow those who want to follow the evidence to go where it leads.

Cheers...

[KittyWampus]

24. You touched on my reaction to this thread. Obama's job isn't to investigate anything

Yes, he has a Justice Dept, for instance, whose job it is to investigate stuff.....

[KharmaTrain]

25. I Think The Concern Is...

He will try to either ignore or obstruct any investigation that is either going on or will. And I can understand those concerns, but I've also heard him and Vice President Biden say how they would allow investigations to go on...as well as the words by Eric Holder that he will follow evidence where it leads. That's far more assuring than what we heard from Muck-assey who used the DOJ as a shield. It's been written that there are many careerists in the Department who are chomping to get accountability from those who politicized it and I think there's pressure from within as well as without to clean house.

The other component is Congress. Congressmen Waxman and Conyers have their investigations that were totally stonewalled, but now should have both more power to gather needed information and enforce subpoenas than in the past and there are others who want to open investigations as well. With a larger Democratic majority...and the memories of the abuses not only of boooosh, but DeLay in many minds, the way Congress restores its authority is to follow through on the crimes...and it's our job to make sure our Representatives know how we feel on holding this regime accountable and then pushing them to follow through on the current back-log of cases and restore its own credibility.

The bottom line is we can't forget...or stay quiet. No whitewashing here...the crimes were too widespread and damaging. We need to encourage, reward with donations and votes or, when needed with emails, letters and other reminders that we are expecting Justice and accountability to be done here.

Cheers...

[mmonk]

26. If the common man can be investigated for his politics,

searched without warrant, incarcerated without charge for a period of time, assets seized without legal recourse, put on a list to be harrasssed, determined to be supporting terrorism without proof, etc. by the executive branch now, then why can't he order an investigation of them?