<http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/author/doctorbulldog/> Captain Obama of the USS U-Boat<http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/captain-obama-of-the-uss-u-boat/> *doctorbulldog <http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/author/doctorbulldog/>* | 11 April, 2011 at 1:36 pm | Categories: Obama Sucks<http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/?cat=5183334>, politics <http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/?cat=398> | URL: http://wp.me/p1NPg-713
*A great, little handy-dandy guide to keep around for when you get into a debate with your Obama-@ss-kissing Libtard neighbors and want to drive them absolutely batty (not that you need to push them very far) :* *The U-turn president: Barack Obama’s top ten flip-flops* *By Nile Gardiner - Telegraph.co.uk<http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100083104/the-u-turn-president-barack-obama-top-ten-flip-flops/> * In 1980 Margaret Thatcher famously declared she was “not for turning”, and admirably stuck to her guns as prime minister through thick and thin. In contrast, Barack Obama’s presidency has been filled with the kinds of U-turns that would have made even Jimmy Carter blush. President Obama’s decision last week to do a 180 degree about-turn on the issue of military tribunals is the latest policy reversal by a presidency that has become increasingly adept at making them, usually without batting an eyelid. Below, I outline ten of the biggest policy flip-flops by the Obama administration since taking office in January 2009, with an emphasis on foreign and security policy. As this list shows, not all of Obama’s U-turns are bad. The top three flip-flops in US policy have been significant re-adoptions of Bush administration policies that were condemned by Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election campaign, but which are now deemed essential for national security. These particular shifts have been welcome developments that have advanced US interests, and have been largely forced upon the White House by Congressional and public pressure. Many of the other flip-flops in my list however have fundamentally opposed US interests, for example the decision to drop Third Site missile defences in Eastern and Central Europe in the face of Russian threats, the appalling appeasement of the genocidal regime in Sudan, and the trashing of traditional US alliances. So here are my top ten, which do not include shifts in policy on domestic political issues, such as taxes, health care and the economy. *1. Keeping Guantanamo open* Undoubtedly Obama’s biggest flip-flop, his decision to keep the Guantanamo detention facility in operation has outraged his liberal supporters and ‘shocked’ European governments, who, needless to say, had overwhelmingly declined to take large numbers of dangerous terror suspects off the hands of the US government. As a presidential candidate in 2008, Obama had condemned President Bush <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/guantanamo-traumas-give-obama-a-dose-of-political-reality-2236210.html>for supposedly *“running prisons which lock people away without telling them why they’re there or what they’re charged with”,* and signed an executive order shutting the facility down immediately upon taking office. Two years later Guantanamo still holds 172 detainees, and plays a vital role in the long war against Islamist terrorism. *2. Bringing back military tribunals for terror suspects* As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama was a firm opponent of the Bush administration’s military tribunals<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/911-mastermind-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-military-commission/story?id=13291750>, which he said “failed to establish a legitimate legal framework and undermined our capacity to ensure swift and certain justice.” But, as *The New York Times* reported<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/world/americas/08guantanamo.html>last week, *“President Obama on Monday reversed his two-year-old order halting new military charges against detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, permitting military trials to resume with revamped procedures but implicitly admitting the failure of his pledge to close the prison camp”*, paving the way for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-conspirators to face trial at Guantanamo. *3. Continuing renditions of terror suspects* In a 2007 *Foreign Affairs* article<http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/62636/barack-obama/renewing-american-leadership>, Senator Obama gave a strong indication that he would end the Bush administration practice of rendition of terror suspects: “To build a better, freer world, we must first behave in ways that reflect the decency and aspirations of the American people… This means ending the practices of shipping away prisoners in the dead of night to be tortured in far-off countries, of detaining thousands without charge or trial, of maintaining a network of secret prisons to jail people beyond the reach of the law.” But, as *The New York Times* reported in August 2009<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/us/politics/25rendition.html>, the Obama administration’s Interrogation and Transfer Task Force announced that it would retain renditions, but with what *The Times* referred to as “more oversight”. *4. Ordering military action in Libya without seeking Congressional authorisation* President Obama has shown a striking lack of consistency with regard to the question of Congressional authorisation and the use of force. In a 2007 interview with* The Boston Globe*<http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/specials/CandidateQA/ObamaQA/>, then Senator Obama declared: “The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation. In instances of self-defense, the President would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seeking its consent. History has shown us time and again, however, that military action is most successful when it is authorized and supported by the Legislative branch. It is always preferable to have the informed consent of Congress prior to any military action.” However, as president in March 2011, Barack Obama authorised military action against the Libyan regime without consulting Congress, a decision which drew heavy fire <http://www.speaker.gov/UploadedFiles/POTUSLetter_032311.pdf>on Capitol Hill. 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