President Obama, Terrorists and Federal Courts

Dear Friends,

President Obama is considering reversing the decision to try 9-11 terrorist suspects in Federal Court which he promised as candidate Obama.  See the Washington Post article entitled "Obama advisors set to recomment military tribunals for alleged 9/11 plotters" (here) which was published earlier today.  The first paragraph of the article says it all:

President Obama's advisers are nearing a recommendation that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, be prosecuted in a military tribunal, administration officials said, a step that would reverse Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.'s plan to try him in civilian court in New York City

The Wall Street Journal just published an article entitled, "Obama Leans Toward Switch to Military Trials on 9/11" (here).  The first few paragraphs read:

The Obama administration now favors trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other alleged Sept. 11, 2001, plotters in a military tribunal, officials said, yielding to opposition from Congress and local governments that was stymieing the Justice Department's plans for a civilian trial.

Members of Congress have moved to cut off funds for a civilian trial, while local governments have expressed reluctance to play host to such a trial. No decision has been reached, and a White House official said President Barack Obama wouldn't make his announcement for weeks as a review continues.

A reversal on the 9/11 trial would represent the latest backtracking on an issue that has bedeviled the Obama administration from nearly the outset. In his campaign, Mr. Obama asserted that Bush administration detention policies had damaged America's standing in the world. Two days after taking office, Mr. Obama signed an order pledging to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, where Mr. Mohammed is held, within a year.

President Obama claims to be a person of principle, but I fail to see where principle is entering into this decision.  Once again, President Obama is giving up on the principles that enticed us to support and vote for him in favor of some idea about bipartisanship.  It is unbelievable that someone as smart as President Obama has not learned by now that the Republicans will not do anything that he supports and will oppose anything that he is for.  The article continues to outline what is going on in the background.

The movement toward a military tribunal is still a gamble. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been negotiating with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) to win his support for a 9/11 trial before a revamped military commission that would be more open and offer defendants more rights than the Bush administration had wanted, Mr. Graham and administration officials said.
In exchange, the White House hopes Mr. Graham will help win bipartisan support for the purchase of a nearly empty prison in Thomson, Ill., which would be converted to a federal "supermax" facility, with a military court administered by the Defense Department.
Cutting a deal with Mr. Graham not only would move a distracting political issue aside but could pay dividends down the road. Mr. Graham is involved in bipartisan negotiations on climate change and immigration as well.

Why am I not surprised that Rahm Emanuel is involved in this totally unprincipled move by the Obama Administration?  It is particularly appalling that it is being done in the desperate attempt to get some Republican support for something.

If President Obama and Rahm Emanuel think that cutting an unprincipled deal with Senator Graham will get rid of a distracting political issue, it is up to us to be sure that they know that they will create an even more distracting political issue if they backtrack on this important promise that candidate Obama made.

Please go to the ACLU website (here) to let President Obama know that moving back to military tribunals is unacceptable.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

The Public Option and President Obama

Dear Friends,

I finally found a site that clearly lists the supporters of the Bennet letter to use reconciliation to get a Public Option in the Health Care bill.  It is in an article by Chris Bowers on Open Left (here).  According to Mr. Bowers there are now 35 Senators that have either signed the Bennet letter or have indicated their support for it.  Dare I believe that this essentially grass roots effort could actually work?

Well before you get too excited, President Obama is making it difficult to get the Public Option included in this bill.  The New York Times reports (here)

He told the liberals that a public option would never pass the Senate, but said he would be “personally committed” to pursuing it once the current bill became law, said Representative Raúl Grijalva, Democrat of Arizona and co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He asked centrists for support.

If the President is "personally committed" to a public option and if there are already 35 Senators that support putting the Public Option in through reconciliation, why doesn't the President work to get the 15 more Senators and his Vice President so that we can have some real competition?   If he is "personally committed" to it, and we are this close, he should fight for it.  That is leadership and that is change we can believe in.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Lt. Governor Bill Halter and President Obama

Dear Friends,

In a post yesterday, I wrote about President Obama's immediate endorsement of Senator Blanche Lincoln over her primary challenger, Lt. Governor Bill Halter apparently just because she is the incumbent.  Well apparently, the grass roots liberals in this country that helped President Obama get elected disagree with the President's position on this issue.  AFL-CIO unions have pledged $3 million to Mr. Halter.  MoveOn.org started out with a goal to raise $500,000 for Mr. Halter and in twelve hours surpassed that goal.  They increased the goal to $1 million and as of 9:51 pm central time tonight just about one day after they started, they have raised over $948,000 for Mr. Halter.  ActBlue has already raised over $160,000. 

Grassroots liberals are coming alive, and we need to.  We need to be sure that the Democratic Party and its leaders understand that they need us to win.  They need to understand that they will not get our enthusiastic support just because they may be better than the Republican or Tea Party alternative.  They need to understand that we will support challenges to incumbents who do not uphold the liberal values that the Democratic Party is suppose to support.  They need to understand that we really did want change we can believe in.

Do your part!!

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal