Los Angeles Times article: President Obama has been a disaster for civil liberties

[Better Believe It]

Obama: A disaster for civil liberties
He may prove the most disastrous president in our history in terms of civil liberties.
By Jonathan Turley
Jonathan Turley is a professor of law at George Washington University.
September 29, 2011

Protecting individual rights and liberties — apart from the right to be tax-free — seems barely relevant to candidates or voters. One man is primarily responsible for the disappearance of civil liberties from the national debate, and he is Barack Obama. While many are reluctant to admit it, Obama has proved a disaster not just for specific civil liberties but the civil liberties cause in the United States.

Civil libertarians have long had a dysfunctional relationship with the Democratic Party, which treats them as a captive voting bloc with nowhere else to turn in elections. Not even this history, however, prepared civil libertarians for Obama. After the George W. Bush years, they were ready to fight to regain ground lost after Sept. 11. Historically, this country has tended to correct periods of heightened police powers with a pendulum swing back toward greater individual rights. Many were questioning the extreme measures taken by the Bush administration, especially after the disclosure of abuses and illegalities. Candidate Obama capitalized on this swing and portrayed himself as the champion of civil liberties.

However, President Obama not only retained the controversial Bush policies, he expanded on them. The earliest, and most startling, move came quickly. Soon after his election, various military and political figures reported that Obama reportedly promised Bush officials in private that no one would be investigated or prosecuted for torture. In his first year, Obama made good on that promise, announcing that no CIA employee would be prosecuted for torture. Later, his administration refused to prosecute any of the Bush officials responsible for ordering or justifying the program and embraced the "just following orders" defense for other officials, the very defense rejected by the United States at the Nuremberg trials after World War II.

But perhaps the biggest blow to civil liberties is what he has done to the movement itself. It has quieted to a whisper, muted by the power of Obama's personality and his symbolic importance as the first black president as well as the liberal who replaced Bush. Indeed, only a few days after he took office, the Nobel committee awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize without his having a single accomplishment to his credit beyond being elected. Many Democrats were, and remain, enraptured.

Read the full article at:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-turley-civil-liberties-20110929,0,7542436.story

[Bobbie Jo]

1. Dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=2025035&mesg_id=2025035

Early bird, etc....

[SidDithers]

2. Your twin already posted this...nt

Sid

[dionysus]

10. hey sid, you got a candy heart i can borrow?

:spray:
:hi:

[SidDithers]

14. For you, always...

:rofl;

Sid

[dionysus]

17. thank you sir

[spanone]

12. bwahahaaaa

[joeybee12]

16. Good! That means I can knr twice! Thanks for the heads-up!

[ProSense]

18. What this

"Good! That means I can knr twice! Thanks for the heads-up!"

...means is that facts are irrelevant, and any anti-Obama drivel is exciting!

[SidDithers]

19. Whatever makes you happy...

I know you must be hurting after another epic collapse by the Sox.

Sid

[flamingdem]

21. The Dems still love Obama and this "article" is an EDITORIAL nt

[Better Believe It]

23. It is an "Op-Ed by the writer.

[Octafish]

3. Thanks for the heads-up.

It's like a "say one thing" and "do another" thing.

[ProSense]

4. Repeat:

Disaster?:

Turley:

<...>

Obama failed to close Guantanamo Bay as promised. He continued warrantless surveillance and military tribunals that denied defendants basic rights. He asserted the right to kill U.S. citizens he views as terrorists. His administration has fought to block dozens of public-interest lawsuits challenging privacy violations and presidential abuses.

But perhaps the biggest blow to civil liberties is what he has done to the movement itself. It has quieted to a whisper, muted by the power of Obama's personality and his symbolic importance as the first black president as well as the liberal who replaced Bush. Indeed, only a few days after he took office, the Nobel committee awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize without his having a single accomplishment to his credit beyond being elected. Many Democrats were, and remain, enraptured.

<...>

WTF? Does Turley actually read what they writes? He can criticize the President for not doing more, but before calling the President a "disaster" and trying to imply that the President has done more damage than good, and using is race to bolster the claim, which is preposterous and disgusting, he needs to take heed of the facts.

The ACLU praised the Obama administration for ending Bush's torture policies

President Obama Signs Executive Order Widening Government Transparency

WH fact sheet on Guantanamo Executive Order and ACLU response

ACLU: Justice Is Served (Fair Sentencing Act made retroactive)

A Win for Free Speech: ACLU Recommendations Adopted by DHS!

[treestar]

5. Bull Shit

If people want to be read, they need to avoid ridiculous headlines.

[dionysus]

13. you mean you're not buying the "marketing pitch"?

:hi:

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. Bigger disaster than Bush/Cheney?

Really?

:wtf:

[ProSense]

11. From the OP:

"He may prove the most disastrous president in our history in terms of civil liberties."

People are actually buying this utter drivel despite the facts

Turley is engaging in the RW tactic of criticizing the President on his strength.

Think about it, not only was there Bush/Cheney, but rendition was a Clinton policy initiated before 9/11: Fact Sheet: Extraordinary Rendition

December 6, 2005

Beginning in the early 1990s and continuing to this day, the Central Intelligence Agency, together with other U.S. government agencies, has utilized an intelligence-gathering program involving the transfer of foreign nationals suspected of involvement in terrorism to detention and interrogation in countries where -- in the CIA's view -- federal and international legal safeguards do not apply. Suspects are detained and interrogated either by U.S. personnel at U.S.-run detention facilities outside U.S. sovereign territory or, alternatively, are handed over to the custody of foreign agents for interrogation. In both instances, interrogation methods are employed that do not comport with federal and internationally recognized standards. This program is commonly known as "extraordinary rendition."

The current policy traces its roots to the administration of former President Bill Clinton. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, however, what had been a limited program expanded dramatically, with some experts estimating that 150 foreign nationals have been victims of rendition in the last few years alone. Foreign nationals suspected of terrorism have been transported to detention and interrogation facilities in Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Diego Garcia, Afghanistan, Guantánamo, and elsewhere. In the words of former CIA agent Robert Baer: "If you want a serious interrogation, you send a prisoner to Jordan. If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear -- never to see them again -- you send them to Egypt."

<...>

This is another policy the President is working to correct. He reversed Bush's expansion of a Clinton program, which means Obama earns the label "most disastrous"?

Only in the land of anti-Obama logic.

[Occulus]

22. In the same sense that Ginger Rogers was a better dancer than Fred Astaire

because she had to do what he did, backward, and in heels.

If you take into account Obama's expansion on certain Bush-era policies, that silly analogy actually has some accuracy.

[MineralMan]

7. Opinions are not necessarily based on facts.

Just in case anyone missed noticing, this is an opinion piece, not news. Everyone has an opinion. My opinion is that this is yet another hit piece on President Obama.

[asjr]

8. I always wondered why Keith O. ever had

Turley on his show. I have never liked the man. He lives in another world.

[dionysus]

9. using a libertarian douchebag's smear piece in the neverending campaign. par for the course.

[Octafish]

24. CIVIL libertarian, as in ''Civil Liberties'' -- you know, civil rights we're all supposed to have.

Especially citizens of the United States -- even those accused of being traitors.

Here's a bio: http://jonathanturley.org/about/

[ThomWV]

15. K&R

[DirkGently]

20. Turley's one of the most measured, sober people out there. Won't fit under the Enemies Bus.

However, President Obama not only retained the controversial Bush policies, he expanded on them. The earliest, and most startling, move came quickly. Soon after his election, various military and political figures reported that Obama reportedly promised Bush officials in private that no one would be investigated or prosecuted for torture. In his first year, Obama made good on that promise, announcing that no CIA employee would be prosecuted for torture. Later, his administration refused to prosecute any of the Bush officials responsible for ordering or justifying the program and embraced the "just following orders" defense for other officials, the very defense rejected by the United States at the Nuremberg trials after World War II.

This is what happened. It was wrong. It's still wrong. And it's more wrong to deny it.