Hitting the Ground Sauntering

In one of his first acts as president, Obama signed several executive orders. I caught a clip of the press conference on the radio.



He first says the United States "will not torture". I'll get to that in a moment. My attention was really captured by, "we will close the Guantánamo Bay detention camp and determine how to deal with those who have been held there". At this point, I began to wonder what the hell the transition team was spending their time on if not determining what they were going to do Day 1. Then I wondered, "close Gitmo first, figure out what to do with them later?"

So I've got this initial bad taste in my mouth as I read some more details of things in the following days. The Truth On Gitmo brought to my attention What the President’s Executive Order really means:

. . . Contrary to reports, Obama did not shut down Gitmo. Rather, he issued an order saying he will (or, to be precise, he intends to and is willing to commit in advance to) shut down Gitmo in a year’s time. This, to mix a metaphor, is kicking the can as far down the road as he possibly can without being penalized for delay of game. Or, to mix yet another metaphor, Obama is promising to write a popular book in a year’s time and is happy to pocket a sizable advance of good will and commentary now; book to be written later. Until then, however, other actions, like the shuttering of other detention centers, will have an immediate impact.

About that Presidential Executive Order on Interrogations…, notes that far from being something new and different, Obama may have just rescinded and reissued Bush policy:

It’s not. It IS the Bush Administration’s 2007 Executive Order 13440.

About this point I'm thinking, "Great. Obama's big deal on torture is merely a regurgitation of existing US policy under Bush; but of course the press goes wild. Still we're going to close Gitmo and then figure out what to do." At this point I'm more or less speechless and shaking my head, rolling my eyes.

Then it turns out (and I'm shocked -- shocked!) that there is recidivism from Gitmo:

Return to Jihad

Two former Guantánamo detainees appear in a newly released al Qaeda propaganda video, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, an organization that monitors terrorist media. The former Guantánamo inmates have been identified as Said Ali al Shihri and Abu Hareth Muhammad al Awfi. Al Awfi is also known as Mohamed Atiq Awayd al Harbi, a kunya (or nickname) meaning that he is from the al Harbi tribe on the Arabian peninsula.

According to a report that first appeared in The New York Times last week, al Shihri was recently identified as the deputy of al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen and may have played a direct role in al Qaeda’s attack on the American embassy in Sana'a, Yemen's capital, in September of 2008. That attack killed ten civilians, along with six terrorists. Al Awfi has been identified as an al Qaeda field commander.

So what do we have here? Reissuing of bad old Bush interrogation policy under an Obama letterhead to placate the press, but effectively changing nothing? Kicking decision-making further down the road with regard to enemy combatants? What other big decisions will Obama put on the back burner? Maybe a Clear and Present Danger?

Before issuing such a "bold initiative" and "outreach" toward the theocrats ruling in Tehran, Mr. Obama's advisers should have shown their boss the report provided late last month to French President Nicolas Sarkozy from a nonpartisan parliamentary commission on Iran's nuclear program. The report details Tehran's success in circumventing U.N. sanctions and concludes that Iranian scientists already have the know-how to build a nuclear weapon and that unless action is taken to prevent it, they will possess all necessary technology, equipment and fissile material to deploy nuclear weapons no later than the end of next year, "perhaps sooner."

All of this reminds me of one of the things I really hated about the Clinton era: the opinion-poll presidency. I like to think of it as "the long-term goal of the month". There really wasn't much of an executive branch under Clinton. Maybe Obama will usher in a new Republican Revolution, but I'm not holding my breath. I think the stakes or more serious now than 15 years ago, and I don't feel that Obama is up to the task.

Obama Tipping His Hand to the Military?

LGF notes that Obama Snubs Medal of Honor Ball:

Another milestone for our new President: he’s the first President in 56 years to snub the American Legion’s “Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball.”

The American Legion sponsors the ball, which recognizes recipients of Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award. It started in 1953 for President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s first inauguration.

Event co-sponsors include 13 other veterans service organizations, among them the Military Order of the Purple Heart and the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

DrewM has a few words on this as well:

No time for Medal of Honor and Purple Heart recipients or paralyzed vets? Yeah, honeymoon...over.

Obama did manage to make it to the Commander in Chief's Ball which was a good thing. Of course in 2005 George W. Bush managed to find time to make it to both balls.

Is this a sign of the respect our military can expect from President Obama?

Update: Whoops! Missed a post at BlackFive, where other inauguration balls that Obama did attend were pointed out. Priorities, I guess.

Same Thing, Only Different

A picture is worth a thousand words, but this video does an impressive job of encapsulating media bias -- especially with regard to Bush for the past 8 years.



Jonah Goldberg finds that "this segment from the Daily Show was pretty revealing." GatewayPundit calls it Bush III, as does the Anchoress:

Obama = Bush 3?

Oh, the headline is just there to piss some people off, but I was really shocked (and somewhat gratified) to see this bit by the Daily Show.

“YOU’RE the same rhetoric!”

Hey, credit Jon Stewart with daring to acknowledge what no one in the press will, even if he’d rather not: that the “arrogant swaggering cowboy” did the things he did, and said what he said, because those are the things you do and say to terrorists, whether the Upper West Side likes it, or not.

She goes on to add,

As an aside, did you note the hesitancy of the audience to laugh at this stuff? They’re really so besotted, they think they’re not supposed to laugh or question President Obama, who Hollywood is declaring we must “pledge to serve.”

And,

And besides, as we’ve heard for the last 8 years, dissent is still “the highest form of patriotism,” and we learned yesterday, “it’s cool again to be patriotic!”

The Bookworm went with the takeaway that Obama's rhetoric is Hopeynochangey: "I’m no great fan of Jon Stewart’s almost nihilistic humor, but this one pretty much nailed it." The same for Hot Air:

Obama’s inaugural address not so Changey

Overheard on the Mall by a Telegraph correspondent: “I thought the speech was sh*t.” Ah, but even The One’s turds are gilded and smell of roses, Juan Williams reminds us, thanks to the media’s racially-tinged reluctance to spoil an historic moment they helped create.

Bush’s own speechwriter, Michael Gerson, found it interesting but cliche. Which, given what you’re about to see, makes perfect sense. Exit question: Is the difference between the “Italian food” and “Chinese food” here a simple matter of Obama delivering his speech in the cadence of Black English?

The Daily Show FINALLY Notices the Bush/Obama Mind-Meld from Flopping Aces and the Heritage blog both seem to side on the Bush equals Obama side:

Did President Obama’s Speech Sound Familiar?

If you thought parts of President Obama’s speech yesterday sounded familiar, or conservative, you may be on to something. Jon Stewart certainly took notice.

It doesn't even need to be Bush, by the way: Didn’t McCain Say The Same Thing President Obama?

It's amazing how all the 'stupid' and 'idiotic' rhetoric is now like poetry from Heaven when all that has changed as the person speaking the words. If the words aren't all that bad, how 'wonderful' could things have been if the media had thought highly of them during the Bush years?