A Gut-Check Moment for Mr. Obama

[Cali_Democrat]

A Gut-Check Moment for Mr. Obama
Wednesday 30 November 2011
by: William Rivers Pitt, Truthout | Op-Ed

When George W. Bush left office, and John McCain went down to defeat, there was a sense among a great many Americans that a tremendously dangerous nightmare was over, that years of wildly violent, constitutionally questionable, unbelievably expensive and morally appalling over-reaction to 9/11 were behind us, that an America which didn't use the NSA to spy on virtually anyone, an America that didn't indefinitely detain people without due process of law, that didn't torture, that didn't consign millions to death and maiming by way of wars based on lies and the desire to make money while winning elections...a lot of people thought that America might show its face again.

<...>

It hasn't quite worked out that way. There is honor, there is integrity, and there is this administration, the very living definition of "half a loaf." They haven't been so bad, but they've been very far from good. Sure, Mr. Obama hasn't lied us into wars that got hundreds of thousands of people killed, but he and his people have fallen far short of fulfilling the promises made to make right what had gone so wildly and conspicuously wrong with the manner in which American government goes about its business. Pressing questions have been raised regarding exactly what kind of man the president is, where his integrity lies, and why he has spent so much of his first term either in retreat, or fully embracing the very policies he campaigned against so eloquently.

Well, I'm not going to go so far as to say that one stroke of his pen can undo all that disappointment, but I am damned sure of one thing: this president has before him a gut-check moment of great significance. If he gets it right this time, a portion of faith will be restored. If he blows it, well...as Shakespeare reminds us, one may indeed smile, and smile, and be a villain.

<...>

So there it is. If this bill finishes wending its way through the Senate and passes, it will be greeted by the warm embrace of the Republican majority in the House, and will then be on its way to Mr. Obama's desk, where his veto threat will be waiting for it. Whether or not he follows through on his threat and slaps this dreck down is the question now before us all. One way or another, we will soon learn a very large truth about the man in the Oval Office, and whether he has the integrity to do what is right and follow through on his word.

We shall see.

Read more: http://www.truth-out.org/gut-check-moment-mr-obama/1322618578

[tridim]

1. Just a heads up, Will always posts his articles here after writing them.

So this is a dupe.

[bigwillq]

3. Have you hit alert

to notify the mods that this is a dupe and should be locked?

[CakeGrrl]

4. Maybe the OP thinks GD P doesn't get out much.

;-)

[AtomicKitten]

2. A better question (or indictment) would by WTF the Democrats didn't stop this in the Senate.

Pres O warned the Senate he would veto the bill if it contained the indefinite detention provision. Adding insult to injury, the Democrats in the Senate then helped block an amendment that would have excluded American citizens in a 61-38 vote. WTF?!!

[Sheepshank]

5. Op...being the regular good old predictable OP wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to post Pitt n/t

[Cali_Democrat]

6. I actually haven't posted Pitt's articles before...

I don't believe.

I'm looking at some of his older articles now. They're fantastic. He seems to have a good idea of the current political situation.

[Sheepshank]

7. ...or even a dozen other authors like Pitt

...it's pretty easy to find these opinion pieces all over the web.

[ClassWarrior]

9. That's why I won't be spending nearly as much time campaigning for Obama this time.

Instead, I'll be working to elect a very progressive Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 2012.

NGU.

[Number23]

8. Damn. Too late to unrec