TAP’s Adam Serwer (emphasis mine):
I don’t buy this framing. The fact is that there is no middle ground when it comes to due process. With his soaring and sincere rhetoric, the president has done an incredible job of selling his kinder, gentler War on Terror, and ultimately, the American people will likely have his back, if only because they trust him. In a sense, Barack Obama may be far more dangerous than George W. Bush when it comes to violating our civil liberties; where the American people feared the excesses of Bush, they trust wholly in the sincerity of Barack Obama. At least for now.
Indeed. See also Jack Goldsmith’s comprehensive article on the commonalities between the Obama and Bush Administrations’ counter-terror policies.
“The fact is that there is no middle ground when it comes to due process.”
What an unreasonable, extremist position.
I applaud it.Report
Word.Report
The official line from the White House this morning was that his speech today was supposed to position him as an intellectual, non-partisan voice on security issues.
The moral of the story is an old one. Obama could advocate the exact same policies as Bush but because they come from his mouth they are going to accept. In fact, Obama is already moving beyond Bush by considering preventive detention.Report
Yep, the Empire strikes back….Report