by JA Daraja

Created on: January 08, 2010

Obama: The Audacity of Hoax

                    “Ba-rack, go back -  

                     We need a president!” 

                                       Chant of the Disenchanted

Among the rapidly decreasing number of Obama supporters there is a common “explanation” for his reversal of campaign promises.  It goes something like this: “Well, you know they won’t let him do …”

The people who use this “explanation” generally fall into one of two groups: 1) persons who are themselves accustomed to authoritarian presences in their own lives (and identify with Obama because, after all, he is black); or 2) those persons who simply can not bear to face the now obvious possibility that their champion is really just another political opportunist. 

The idea that there is some great “They” in a position to foil Obama’s decisions runs counter to the US Constitution, and also to the political reality.  Constitutionally, only Congress, the Senate, and the federal courts can erase the president’s decisions.  However, in all these cases, the members of Congress, the Senate, and the judges of the federal courts have been painfully surprised by Obama’s turn-around away from his passionate campaign promises.

At the very start of the Obama presidency, his newly appointed Justice Department was in federal court to continue one of the terrorist-related cases from the Bush-Cheney administration.  The case turned on the Bush-Cheney assertion that the government could keep secrets, even from the courts.  

On the first day of hearings under the Obama administration, the judge asked whether the government wished to “change” any of its previous positions or to offer any new proposals.  Her expectation was, of course, prompted by the Obama pledge to end government secrecy.  She was so surprised by the answer she received that she asked the same question three times.  - The Obama response: “No.  We’ve talked with everyone and we

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