It's impressive that we've fallen so low that we're blaming the Obama administration for not fixing what the Bush administration did. I see it as normalization of the concept that you can't expect any rational action whatsoever from the GOP anymore.
Edit: Reading from comments, I should clarify. I totally agree with OP, I just find it incredibly sad.
And this is why we have fallen so far. Partisan blame is fine for the campaign trail, but as soon as the president takes office he becomes the adult and the responsibility for starting, continuing, or stopping activities falls on him and his administration.
Bush oversaw extra-legal interrogation methods. Obama oversaw a massive increase in extra-legal assassinations by drone. Low-minded citizens can get trapped in the game by getting angry about "the other party" and its actions, or they can recognize that administrations and congressmen in both parties blame the other side for cover while simultaneously building off its precedents to expand their own power.
Obama authorized 10x the number of drone strikes as Bush that killed over 391+ civilians while he was in office, and he did it on his own volition. Ultimately any president has to make hard life-altering decisions, so lets cut out the left vs. right nonsense.
Go ahead, read the article, don't let the facts hit you on the way out.
>Obama authorized 10x the number of drone strikes as Bush that killed over 391+ civilians
Perspective is in order here. "Credible estimates of Iraq War [alone] casualties range from 150,000 to 460,000" [0].
Obama inherited two wars (one illicit) and he settled on drone strikes in part to reduce the awful rate of civilian casualties. There is really no equivalence here and to suggest that there is actually introduces the bias that makes it about right vs. left.
I applaud your encouragement to focus on facts, but let's consider the complete set vs. those that support a particular world view.
> let's consider the complete set vs. those that support a particular world view.
What a pompous response. You are not using a 'complete set [of facts]' either, you're just adding your own facts which support your particular worldview.
Let's not imply that anyone is working from perfect knowledge of the subject as a rhetorical attempt to signal authority. Both misleading and clearly incorrect.
>What a pompous response. You are not using a 'complete set [of facts]' either...
I've added facts to the original set that was offered. Those added facts broaden the context. If you have more facts to add that would further broaden the context, then you're free to add them as well, versus merely devising adjectives for others' responses.
Obama is also I think one of very few presidents who explicitly targeted and killed American natural born citizen. Not accidentally, but actually targeted. Didn't even bother hiding it.
But I agree with the original point, GOP did start this mess on the lie of weapons of mass destruction.
Well you go back to 911 itself and the government involvement with Osama Bin Laden going back to the 1980s, go back to the CIA making my childhood incredibly dangerous by dumping incredible amounts of guns and drugs into cities such as Los Angeles. When do the American people get to tell the CIA "you're fired!"
Maybe I'm just playing devil's advocate, but is what Obama did significantly different from Union soldiers under Lincoln's orders during the Civil War? The form of warfare has changed dramatically, but wouldn't that be something of a parallel?
P.S. I don't want to sound like an apologist regarding Obama's actions here. My personal feelings are that he was largely better than Bush, but not without fault.
No it's not different. I just said that not many presidents have targeted and killed their own citizens. Lincoln was probably one of them. Perhaps one could argue Obama was in a civil war with Americans of the Muslim faith / extremists.
One could argue it was justified. I would personally feel horrible if it was justified that way. But, hey, it's not my country.
Yeah. I'm so tired of this line of reasoning. "The torture happened during the Bush administration and she was put in charge of the CIA during the Trump administration, so obviously we'd better blame the black guy for this."
Yes, I too would have liked it if Obama did more on this. But I am not convinced that he did less than he politically could. As is apparently easy to forget, the US right was at his throat for years. A Republican Congressman went on TV to talk about how Obama threatened America's security by... wearing a tan suit. [1] The notion that they would have gotten behind a sustained investigation of the criminality of the Bush years strikes me as absurdly optimistic.
This shouldn't be a partisan issue. I'm talking about the disintegration of the rule of law.
The new Commander in Chief failed to hold those under his command accountable for their immoral, illegal acts that put our democracy at risk. In doing so, he set a precedent that will last for generations.
> we've fallen so low that we're blaming the Obama administration for not fixing what the Bush administration
At least nobody gave Bush a Nobel Peace Prize. Obama had filled people with hopes and dream and in 8 years did nothing. Just his last year in power he dropped over 20000 bombs in countries we were not even at war with. Speaking of torture, Guantanamo is still open, he could have closed that. In other words expectation were different for Obama so pointing out his failures is also expected vis-a-vis those expectations.
"As President, I will close Guantanamo, reject the Military Commissions Act and adhere to the Geneva Conventions. Our Constitution and our Uniform Code of Military Justice provide a framework for dealing with the terrorists."
There was nothing there about "if Congress lets me and activist judges don't impede my progress".
Obama did shut down Guantanamo to new detainees. Congress wouldn't let him close the facility. He spent the remainder of his term releasing prisoners, trying prisoners, and/or transferring them to other facilities, all pursuant to the UCMJ.
Unlike some presidents, Obama tried to follow the rule of law. He achieved 90% what he promised on Guantanamo. Are you really quivering over the last 10%?
The prisoners still locked up are stateless terrorists who are not protected by the Geneva Convention or the Constitution. They have no rights under any law, and the only reason that they were accorded due process is because we are better than they are and prove it by not simply filleting them.
The ones left in Guantanamo were given trials and found guilty of war crimes, including the rape and torture of their own former countrymen. Rotting in a prison with free healthcare, food, and religious materials is better than they deserve.
If they had their trials and found guilty they should be either imprisoned in a federal prison or sent back to the country they come from. How are they "stateless"? There were not born in the middle of the ocean. From what I remember it was a mix of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Yemen.
Congress passed a law barring the transfer of those prisoners to stateside facilities from Guantanamo, and their home countries refused to accept them (nor were they legally obligated to do so). Under traditional international law, the US would have been within its rights to execute these individuals rather than simply jailing them in relatively plush accommodations.
You really should do some basic research before you try to argue out of your rear on this.
Legally obligated by what? Aren't people deported back to their country of origin all the time. They don't want to take them fine, deny their citizens visas and entry then, until they do.
> Congress passed a law barring the transfer of those prisoners to stateside facilities from Guantanamo,
Ok fair point, you're right about that. Why make strong promises then?
> US would have been within its rights to execute these individuals
That's a bit disturbing. At that level what rights are we talking about. US had been droning people including American citizens, so sure they could have taken them back and shot them. So we should be glad they didn't. Great, I guess?
Legally obligated by what? Aren't people deported back to their country of origin all the time.
By treaty.
Why make strong promises then?
Because when he made those promises he had a Democratic Congress and a reasonable expectation of fully fulfilling his promise, which he still managed to almost fulfill despite the most hostile Congress in history.
At that level what rights are we talking about. US had been droning people including American citizens, so sure they could have taken them back and shot them.
We're not talking about civilians or soldiers. We're talking about people who deliberately and avowedly took up arms against the U.S., renounced their citizenship (U.S. and non-U.S. alike), and raped, tortured, and murdered civilians and soldiers without any attempt to follow the various treaties established for wartime conduct.
>It's impressive that we've fallen so low that we're blaming the Obama administration for not fixing what the Bush administration did.
Why The Fuck shouldn't we, he campaigned on ending that shit. His similar actions on the banking crisis continue to have horrific consequences.
Who gives a fuck about the GOP, we know they're nutso - Obama pretended to be sane though. Obama is also directly responsible for the DNC owing so much money that they were forced to sign a deal with Hillary before the nominations even started.
Everybody knew Bush was a tool and there were little expectations.
Obama, on the other hand, was branded as the good guy. He did very little to deserve that though. People were blinded by his eloquence, but he was a huge disappointment as a president.
I mean, if the next president after you is a choice between Trump and Hillary Clinton, you definitely fucked up and set the standards low.
Remember when he said he would protect whistle blowers?
Anyways, Obama's targeted killing doc[1] actually shows the deep state constitutional abuses and extrajudicial killings continued to develop and evolve under his watch. Whether he is really in control of that, or not, is up for debate.
Eisenhower and JFK warned us that these unelected powers were becoming too powerful.
Edit: Reading from comments, I should clarify. I totally agree with OP, I just find it incredibly sad.