January 12, 2009

Yesterday I was toying with the idea that Obama is facing up to the seriousness of his new job and is ready to do what needs to be done, regardless of the number of hearts he might have to break among the dreamers and hopers.

Today he looks like a hardcore flip-flopper:

President-elect Barack Obama plans to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay as early as his first week in office to show a break from the Bush administration's approach to the war on terror, according to two officials close to the transition.

[...]

Such a move would reassure those concerned after Obama's recent public comments suggested he may not immediately shut the prison down.

Either he believes it's imperative to shut it down immediately or he believes it would be a bad idea to do so too precipitously. In neither case is it honorable to do such a thing merely as a gesture of reassurance (or any other kind of gesture).

I hope this is not an indication of Clintonian fecklessness to come
[note: I'm not a big user of the word 'feckless,' but for some reason that was the word that immediately popped into my head as I typed 'Clintonian.']

What did you expect? You either ask politicians to be realistic, or tell you pleasant little lies. Obama does the latter quite well, and so now he's doing what he does best: not rocking the boat while trying to look good on camera, and fool the proles with hope/change chatter.

Posted by: Vijay Prozak at March 1, 2009 04:19 AM

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