Chris Lott's Library tagged obama →  View Popular

"In that regard, the furor over Obama's complete inaction on gay issues vividly illustrates the same elements that shape political controversies in virtually every other area -- from war to civil liberties to health care and beyond: "

www.salon.com/...fringe - Preview

politics obama civil liberties

"There's just no denying that there are substantial and disturbing steps which have been taken. And critically, the primary excuse offered by Obama supporters for all of these actions -- he just needs more time; it's only been three weeks -- is a complete straw man." Amen.

www.salon.com/...savage - Preview

politics obama civil liberties justice

"The major problem now is that these entities -- the ones that ought to be applying pressure on Obama from the Left and opposing him when he moves too far Right -- are now completely boxed in. They've lost -- or, more accurately, voluntarily relinquished -- their independence. They know that criticizing -- let alone opposing -- Obama will mean that all those new readers they won last year will leave; that all those new dues-paying members will go join some other, more Obama-supportive organization; that they will prompt intense backlash and anger among the very people -- their members, supporters and readers -- on whom they have come to rely as the source of their support, strength, and numbers."

www.salon.com/...pressure - Preview

politics obama progressive left democrat

"The Obama administration failed — miserably — the first test of its commitment to ditching the extravagant legal claims used by the Bush administration to try to impose blanket secrecy on anti-terrorism policies and avoid accountability for serial abuses of the law."

www.nytimes.com/...11wed2.html - Preview

obama politics

"With the Justice Department’s actions on Monday, the Bush state secrets claim is, now, one and the same as Obama’s claim. Greenwald has presented a variety of reasons why this is, to put it mildly, odd. Past positions and statements from administration officials—including a newly-minted top Justice official and vice-president Biden, as well as Obama’s campaign Web site—make this policy look like a clear reversal. And Obama’s early executive order on detention programs essentially outlawed the program he’s now claiming is a state secret."

www.cjr.org/...pressing_on_state_secrets.php - Preview

obama politics

Apologists, pipe down. There's no excuse for this. "What this is clearly about is shielding the U.S. Government and Bush officials from any accountability. Worse, by keeping Bush's secrecy architecture in place, it ensures that any future President -- Obama or any other -- can continue to operate behind an impenetrable wall of secrecy, with no transparency or accountability even for blatantly criminal acts."

www.salon.com/...state_secrets - Preview

politics obama civil liberties

America was told that finally, after years of yes men running the government, we were getting a president who would follow Abraham Lincoln’s lead, fill his administration with varying viewpoints, and glean empirically sound policy from the clash of ideas. Little did we know that "team of rivals" was what George Orwell calls "newspeak": an empty slogan "claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts."

www.salon.com/...sirota - Preview

politics obama

"Barack Obama’s inaugural address is proving to be more powerful in the reading than it was in the hearing." Sorry, but I still heart the often annoying Stanley Fish. This is a good piece.

fish.blogs.nytimes.com/...barack-obamas-prose-style - Preview

speech rhetoric politics obama inauguration

Tearing to shreds one of the more ridiculous responses to Obama's Executive Orders re: Guantanomo, etc, namely this: "Everyone's hailing Obama's decision to suspend all Guantanamo trials for 120 days. But I thought the problem with Guantanamo was the people being held without trial. Khalid Sheikh Muhammed (sic) was being tried by the UCMJ [Uniform Code of Military Justice], which as far as I know, is what you're supposed to use on enemy combatants accused of war crimes. Doesn't this just further prolong the incarceration of anyone who might be innocent?"

www.salon.com/...abject_ignorance - Preview

politics obama guantanamo

Come on Obama... even you can do better than this.

www.factcheck.org/...of_context_on_health_care.html - Preview

linklog politics obama