Category: Politics

Thoughts on coming Barack Obama presidency

This is the first time in my life that the guy I was rooting for became president. I liked Barack Obama from the get-go. I was rooting for him before Iowa, when there was an 8-person slate of Dem. candidates. Not particularly optimistically, but he was the guy I’d have picked, and somehow everyone else agreed with me. And as I’m sitting here on the eve of the inauguration, I wanted just to explain why I like Obama. What I told people was that he was the guy most like me that was running, but of course that’s just silly. There’s also the idea, attributable to someone or other, that a random person plucked from the populace would make a better president than any random person who was elected, and Obama seemed the closest to that “random person” then any other politician in striking distance. But this too misses the real essence.

What it comes down to is that Obama seems like the guy, when all is on the table, that is really best for the job. Clinton got the job through sheer political craftsmanship. Regan got it because people liked him, brains be damned. The Bushes got it through the unrelenting power of political connections. But Obama got the job just by straight-up being the best damned guy for the job. (The annoying smart guy, as Jay so lovingly put it.)

I’ve got no illusions — in 8 years you people will elect another idiot. We’ll continue to have mostly less-then-ideal presidents. Hopefully after 8 years of GWB we’ll no longer believe, as I used to, that who’s president isn’t really of that much consequence.

So do this with me. Let’s revel, just one last time, in the sheer breadth and scope of the badness of the George W. Bush presidency. Let’s pick a topic at random. International relations, science, civil liberties, bleh bleh bleh… let’s go with Bush’s relationship with the press:

OK, we’ve got that out of our system. Now, let’s welcome our new president. If all goes according to plan, you can watch the inauguration right in this little window, courtesy of Hulu. See you on the other side!

Update: Jay on inauguration day, just as I was raggin’ on him.

Update: Bleh, Hulu’s on autoplay, and it’s got crappy FOX news. Try MSNBC, or see Jason’s guide.

Update: Viva Obama.

Update: Text of the speech.

Islam: The Way of Life of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad

“ISLAM: The Way of Life of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.” So read buses running in Broward County right now. (Here is a photo.) A fairly idiotic statement, considering Islam was founded hundreds of years after Jesus lived. But whatever — 1st Amendment, and all of that, right? Well actually, yes. We can take some comfort in hearing that the best person the Sun Sentinel (and the Herald) could find to speak in favor of pulling the ads is one Joe Kaufman, who “once called for nuclear attacks on Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq” and “wrote that ‘pure merciless force’ was the only way to deal with Muslims.” Nice to see that censorship has such a transparently nutcase spokesman. Not particularly related: atheist bus ads in London.

Investigate the Bush lawyers

I’ve been catching up on my reading of Slate, and this caught my attention: Lawyers aren’t Special. Milan Markovic argues that Bush administration lawyers ought to be investigated for their role in the commission of war crimes. Traditionally lawyers are exempt from such investigations, but this may be absurd:

[S]ince the Nuremberg trials, it has been a fundamental precept of international law that soldiers must disobey orders to commit war crimes. If soldiers are supposed to differentiate between lawful and unlawful orders, why should lawyers, who are trained to know the law, have the privilege of never being held accountable if they advise unlawful conduct?

That stance seems especially unwarranted since lawyers can offer legal advice in such a way as to account for differing points of view when addressing controversial legal issues. In fact, lawyers are mandated to at least consider opposing points of view. They may, moreover, refer to moral and political considerations when advising clients, not purely legal ones. And yet John Yoo and other administration attorneys wrote one-sided arguments about crucial aspects of the coercive interrogation policy.

Also, if you haven’t already listened to the Fresh Air interview with Philippe Sands, you really should. He argues not only that Bush administration officials (including the president) ought to be indited for war crimes, but that there is an excellent chance that they will be at some point, in a foreign country. This may or may not be little more then a thought experiment, but it’s a dazzling listen.

Racial profiling at NADA?

A weird entanglement I witnessed at the door of NADA, where a guy wasn’t being allowed in apparently because of his dreadlocks (?! — but that’s actually what the security was telling him) and being black. “We’ve had some gang activity.” Meanwhile, dude was there with his girlfriend and a baby in a stroller, so wtf?? The two security idiots stood their ground, and eventually somebody else was called in and it looked like the situation was diffused and they were going to let him in. But seriously.

A couple of times I heard him ask, “is it because I’m black?”

And the security guys would get all indignant, “don’t start that shit!” when really they weren’t giving him much reason to doubt that that was exactly what it was.

Talk about an absolutely moronic response by the management of NADA to whatever incident they may or may not have had.

Change.gov

CHANGE.GOV The Barack Obama Twitter account appears to have packed it in, and I think that’s as it should be. The campaign is over, and it would be a mistake to link Obama’s campaign marketing efforts too much with his presidency. Adam Lisagor wondered if Obama would continue to use his logo, and it would appear that he will not.

This, on the other hand, is more like it: Change.gov, a brand new site designed by Obama’s people as only they could, and bringing a completely fresh approach to how the government uses the internet to interact with the people. It’s a little light right now, but it has lots of potential. I would like to see the “share your story/share your vision” features turn into something more like an internet forum, where the stories can be shared and discussed.

And I’d like at least a little of that radical transparency brought in: What newspaper articles and editorials did Obama find provoking today? Who’s he meeting with today? What’s being talked about inside the White House today?

I don’t think we’re ready for, “fire the publicist / go off message / let all your employees blab and blog,” in the White House, but we would benefit from whatever baby steps Obama can take in that direction, and Change.gov seems like just such a step.