Jun
16
Did You Really Expect Change?
June 16, 2009 | Tagged change, obama, privacy | Leave a Comment
The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution. – Hannah Arendt
President Obama promised change and you really believed him didn’t you. You thought that he would be different than all the other politicians that came before – you believed Obama would really keep his promises. Well, how has he done so far? Have you been keeping track of the change?
It would seem that, as president, Obama is no different than any other man who has held political office. He does what is needed to get into power. In this case, it was selling you the “change” that you thought you needed. Then once in power, he does whatever it takes to stay there.
Way back in October, I stated my reasons for being opposed to voting, but concluded that I would vote in order to prevent a continuation of the Bush presidency in the form of John McCain. Now, it appears that we didn’t need McCain to continue the Bush era policies. Obama is doing a fine job of this himself.
Let’s take a look at just some of the collected evidence from the last few weeks.
Government Secrecy
Obama refuses to release a list of White House visitors. The same argument to justify the secrecy of White House visitor logs was made by the Bush administration and was rejected twice by a federal judge.
The location of hazardous coal ash sites is kept secret for national security reasons. These sites are considered hazards to people who live near them, but the Obama administration has decided that secrecy is more important than people’s health.
Obama is continuing to invoke the “state secrets” argument to keep information private, despite campaign promises for more open government.
Obama reversed his decision to release prison abuse abuse photos. This decision does not protect Americans, but actually makes us more like those we claim to be fighting against. We must admit that abuses were committed and we must ensure this never happens again.
Civil Rights
Obama argues to support the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) affirming that gays have no constitutional right to marriage, or the right to have their marriages (in the handful of states where same sex marriage is legal) recognized by other states.
Obama has continued the discharge of gay military members under “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” Since he has been in office, 214 troops have been discharged. Many of these men and women serve in critical specialties such as Arab linguists. Just last week, the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from an Army captain who was discharged under DADT. The Obama administration argued that the ban on homosexuals in the military was “rationally related to the government’s legitimate interest in military discipline and cohesion.”
Treatment of Prisoners
The U.S. continues to hold prisoners without formal charges for indefinite periods.
- Reuters cameraman Ibrahim Jassam was arrested by U.S. forces in September 2008.
- President Obama announced that he would consider “a ‘preventive detention’ system that would establish a legal basis for the United States to incarcerate terrorism suspects who are deemed a threat to national security but cannot be tried.”
- Obama claims that detainees in Afghanistan have no legal right to challenge their imprisonment.
None of this fits with the values of a free society. People held for “crimes” should always have a right to challenge their detention, should always have access to legal representation, and should always expect that their case will be heard in an open court.
Police State
You still think you live in a free country? Well, as of June 1 you aren’t as free to move about as you thought you were. You may now be restricted from leaving your own country if the government does not give you permission to do so.
War
Obama’s choice to head the war in Afghanistan isn’t really who I would want to represent my views.
Funding for war continues to grow, but is shifting from Iraq to Afghanistan. So while we hear all the “good news” about troop reductions in Iraq, more money is being poured into the war effort in other locations.
Corruption
Major donors are named ambassadors. Change? No, just business as usual.
Still believe in change? I didn’t think so.