I am fully on the side that Bush has done more to ruin this country than any other president before him , either by direct action, inaction, or vicariously through the action of members of his cabinet and vice president (in particular his vice president). I doubt I can come out stronger in this regard. I cant find a single metric that shows that some policy or executive order on his part lead to something positive for this country (although I do have a post on that brewing).
That being said, I just can't get on board with this:
I sincerely believe that President-elect Obama's top priority upon taking office should involve appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration for war crimes and other criminal abuses of power.
Yes, I fully understand the sentiment that if he doesn't get punished for what will probably be found to be illegal, treasonous, and so forth, then there are people in positions in this country who are in fact, above the law. I really get that.
I get that some more neo-cons will rightly think, "Well we got away with it last time, why not again?" Yes, I really get that too.
I get that torturing is, and should be illegal. That it should be punished and people should be held accountable. I really get that also.
I get that warrantless wiretapping on American citizens, no matter where they are calling, is a bad thing, shouldn't be done.
I really truly get all that. But I can't seem to get past the fact that Obama is as human as you or me. He is probably as smart as you or me. Anyone you has been in a managerial position like I have knows that mistakes can be made, even with lots of good advice. So I think Obama is already on track to fuck up royally once or twice, and pretty soon at that.
We already know the circus that happens when we start doing these investigations and prosecutions. We know the negative results we get from those activities: polarization, tens of millions of dollars getting spent, likely punishments that don't fit the crime. I mean the Valarie Plame incident is an act of treason, punishable by death. Are we really going to put Bush to death? Of course this same crime can be simply punished by a minimum of 5 years in jail and 10 grand (or so I read), do we expect to see Bush in jail? Good luck with that.
No, there is some serious cleanup work to do. Really serious. Obama is going to screw up some of the cleanup work. Its pretty much guaranteed (of course I hope I am wrong). The ultimate benefit of fixing this disgrace of a presidency will come when democrats and centrists in the future can simply compare a conservatives ideas to that of Bush, the WPE (Worst President Ever).
In 8 years, I want to ask conservative to explain to me how things are worse than when conservatives were given free reign from the year 2001 to 2007. That should be a funny explanation.
Please, someone, inspire me to get on board with the witch hunt. As it stands now, I just can't get into it.
update:
I think I figured out where my apathy on this subject is coming from. as I wrote over at Vjacks,
I can't get past the fact that we, as a country voted for him the second time after most of this crap was done. Its like allowing a company to dump PCBs in a river and then making them clean it up 20 years later. If it was a legal dumping in the first place, boo on the govt agency that allowed it, not the company. If the company dumped in the river despite being told not to, boo on the company and they should pay.I may have been right in my pre-election contentions about Bush. I may not have liked how people voted, but they did it nonetheless. They essentially told him, "What you are doing is OK". I think that is where my apathy on this subject is coming from.
2 comments:
Pursuing justice might be hard, so let's forget about it? That's a completely moronic position.
Anyone you has been in a managerial position like I have knows that mistakes can be made, even with lots of good advice. So I think Obama is already on track to fuck up royally once or twice, and pretty soon at that.
Are you actually comparing intentional, willful violation of the law with mistakes and "fuck ups"?
We already know the circus that happens when we start doing these investigations and prosecutions.
We shouldn't investigate and prosecute crimes because the perpetrators will resist in the political arena? One might call the protests and struggle over Oscar Grant's murder a "circus"; should we simply let Mehserle get away with murder to avoid the circus?
I mean the Valarie Plame incident is an act of treason, punishable by death. Are we really going to put Bush to death?
Why is this an objection? If treason by law warrants the death penalty, and if Bush did in fact commit treason (and is convicted by due process), then why is it an objection that he would be subject to the death penalty?
Well, its a matter of priorities. My issue was with the idea that this should be first, or, as is often stated, a "top priority".
I never said that we shouldn't do it, because it is hard. I said simply that there are so many other things that need attention and I for one do not believe that Obama is incapable of screwing up. I'd rather focus on things that need big fixing, which is itself a huge list. Economy, security, standing, education, healthcare, there is simply nothing that is better now due to his policies than they were before, and many of these things are worse. So, yeah, these are what I consider to be "top priority", not the partisan witchhunt that will result in, at best, just a media frenzy with little if any punishment. I'd rather not see healtchcare mucked up because Obama is mired in a partisan war with little or no expectation of any real punishment for Bush.
Are you really under the impression that any prosecution will lead to a death penalty? It is not even my impression that anything will happen other than a declarative statement that says "Bush was a bad guy". Which we already have, multiple times.