Darth Vader Has Left the Building

The news today was all good; I'm not sure how to get used to this. The President announced the closing of Guantanamo and the termination of policies permitting torture. I feel like the flying monkeys standing around the puddle of the formerly wicked Witch of the West; not quite believing that the source of all danger has been slain. Of course metaphors only go so far, and the dark wind that blew BushCheney into office is not dead; it has but subsided. Nontheless, it was deeply satisfying to see Dr. Strangelove wheeling into history; with Bush in tow. Man, I wish I had a shoe in hand right now...

I'm currently reading Angler, the political biography of Dick Cheney, by Barton Gellman. It was first published as a series in the Washington Post, by Gellman and Jo Becker. (Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency washingtonpost.com) I found the hair standing up on the back of my neck, reading the facinating and yet horrorifying saga of Cheney, the master of the Washington labyrinth, moving like a Wyoming jackrabbit through the federal bureaucracy, armed with assumed presidential power, running the ball (his ball) downfield, making needed connections opportunistically sometimes, but more often by design, excluding adversaries from the process with the skill and cunning of a Cardinal Richlieu, until he succeeded in implementing unprecedented torture and domestic surveliance programs, as well as securing the inaction of the federal government on behalf of the American energy industry, as regards environmental protection. Say what you will about Cheney, but don't say he's stupid. Or slow. It becomes clear how dominant a personality he was, and how skilled at playing Bush in order to rewrite policy to his liking; until Bush finally began to realize that his presidency had been hijacked.

I don't think we yet realize the extent of the constitutional damage done by this government of political felons. As written history unfolds, we are going to be deeply shocked at how easily this criminal administration was able to organize itself and coordinate a plundering of the government; proving in the process how fragile the constitutional protection on which we rely really is.

The President's plan calls for closing Guantanamo within a year, with decisions yet to be made about where detainees go, which ones get prosecuted in what sort of court on what sort of evidence how obtained. Good thing Harvard has a plentiful supply of new law school graduates. But the point is that we are going to stop committing the crimes that have been committed at Guantanamo.

With regard to the directive regarding torture, I think an important point was simply made. The president didn't call for special committees, studies, etc. He simply restored the pre-existing guidelines contained in the U. S. Army policy manual, and applied it to all military personnel including the CIA. A presidential requirement that all government personnel adhere to a currently existing policy, is a declaration without prosecution; a clear statement that the administrative guidelines provided by the previous administration are now nullified in favor of the rule of law.

It is one thing to say it in a political speech. It is another thing altogether, to speak it, and write it and have it become the law of the land. With a characteristic lack of drama, President Obama has cancelled the free pass to break the law, given to government employees by BushCheney. And removed all cover.

Not bad for his second day on the job. Considering that during his first day on the job, he implemented a plan to begin troop reductions in Iraq within 16 months.

Canadian geese on Rocky River - January 19, 2009

Gaza

In the midst of the emerging picture of the Israeli invasion of Gaza; massive destruction and an horrific cost in human suffering for no possible good purpose, the President's appointment of George Mitchell as special envoy to the Middle East was as welcome as news gets. The reputation Mitchell earned in Ireland is for getting hate-driven parties, separated for decades by a deep and bitter conflict and angered beyond reason by bitter violence, to the signature line, and a new life in peace. Let it be so for Palestine and Israel. The appointment of Richard Holbrooke as envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan is also good news. David Gergen on CNN tonight described Holbrooke as having the ability to knock heads and get results, which he did in the 1995 deal ending the war in the former Yugoslavia.

I keep looking at my watch; it's still January 22. Barack Obama has been president for 58 hours and 49 minutes.

Thank you, Lord.


DHL


Today's weather was a lot like the day in the header image, taken in January, 2004. The Canadian geese were taken last Sunday, January 19, 2009.