"Yet....why has he governed similarly? Why has he kept many of Bush's policies in place?"
Hell, he's doubled down on some of the policies. President Obama has gone drone crazy. DEAR OBAMA, when a U.S. drone missile kills a child in Yemen, the father will go to war with you, guaranteed. Nothing to do with Al Qaeda, a Yemeni lawyer warned on Twitter last month. President Obama should keep this message in mind before ordering more drone strikes like Wednesdays, which local officials say killed 27 people, or the May 15 strike that killed at least eight Yemeni civilians<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/14/opinion/how-drones-help-al-qaeda.html> In interviews with The New York Times, three dozen of his current and former advisers described Mr. Obamas evolution since taking on the role, without precedent in presidential history, of personally overseeing the shadow war with Al Qaeda.They describe a paradoxical leader who shunned the legislative deal-making required to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, but approves lethal action without hand-wringing. While he was adamant about narrowing the fight and improving relations with the Muslim world, he has followed the metastasizing enemy into new and dangerous lands. When he applies his lawyering skills to counterterrorism, it is usually to enable, not constrain, his ferocious campaign against Al Qaeda even when it comes to killing an American cleric in Yemen, a decision that Mr. Obama told colleagues was an easy one.<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.html?pagewanted=all> It has been clear for years that the Obama administration believes the shadow war on terrorism gives it the power to choose targets for assassination, including Americans, without any oversight. On Tuesday, The New York Times revealed who was actually making the final decision on the biggest killings and drone strikes: President Obama himself. And that is very troubling.<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/31/opinion/too-much-power-for-a-president.html> And he has expanded the assault on civil liberties When Barack Obama took office, he was the civil liberties communities great hope. Obama, a former constitutional law professor, pledged to shutter the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and run a transparent and open government. But he has become a civil libertarians nightmare: a supposedly liberal president who instead has expanded and fortified many of the Bush administrations worst policies, lending bipartisan support for a more intrusive and authoritarian federal government. <goog_825499705> <goog_825499705> All of these civil liberties issues executive authority to order assassination of citizens, unlimited detention without charges at Guantanamo, authority to deploy the military domestically to arrest and indefinitely detail terrorism suspects, a parallel due process that is outside the judicial branch, the expansion of the surveillance state, the increased militarization of local police and federal agencies especially ICE, the increasingly punitive treatment of protesters including strip searches, the war on whistle-blowers, and others are very complicated. The details are filled with shades of gray.<http://www.salon.com/2012/04/20/obamas_dismal_civil_liberties_record/> J - Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. George ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:352863 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
