Obama scores 60 on Slate's Change-o-Meter, second highest day since assuming presidency.

[jefferson_dem]

FWIW...

Disclose and Move On
Obama releases four Bush-era interrogation memos.
By Lindsey Hough

Posted Friday, April 17, 2009, at 5:18 PM ET

The Change-o-Meter is now a widget. You can add it to your blog, Web site, or profile with just a few clicks. (Shortcut for Facebook here.) Each time we publish a new column, the widget will automatically update to reflect the latest score.

President Obama releases four torture memos from the previous administration but moves on a little too quickly. Glad tidings of a new relationship with the other half of the hemisphere is a tune we've heard before. Obama scores a 60 on the Change-o-Meter.

After a month of debate, the Justice Department released four Bush-era memos on Thursday that detail harsh interrogation tactics used on al-Qaida suspects in overseas prisons. President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder were quick to assure CIA employees that interrogators will not be retroactively prosecuted for conduct that was sanctioned by the Justice Department at the time of the interrogations. The 'Meter enthusiastically awards 80 points for the release of the memos, which are vital to the United States' efforts to confront the ugly moral quandaries of the Bush years. Immunity for the CIA officers is a wash; while the 'Meter understands the desire to hold those on the ground culpable, Obama had to strike a balance with an agency that opposes the memos' release in the first place.

As Slate's Dahlia Lithwick argues, however, Obama is ducking a major moral issue by trying to move on so hastily. The 'Meter is swayed; four released memos do not absolve the country and do little to heal the wounds left over from many of the controversial directives made during the Bush era, for which the 'Meter takes back 10 points.

<SNIP>

http://www.slate.com/id/2216326/?from=rss

[Mike L]

1. "Change-o-Meter"

He has changed 100% for the better since he started campaigning. He's a great President. Start measuring him from the day after the election.

[jefferson_dem]

2. Slate has scored Obama on "change" each day since Inauguration

They have a handy chart at the link above.

Great President...Indeed. :)