Obama has many crises with which he must deal. We all know this.

Some people believe that the focus on torture by Americans, of Americans (Padillo) and non-Americans, diverts Obama's attention from appropriate crisis management; for instance, finding himself required to attend to the issue of torture, he focuses less of his attention on the budget. This is believed by some to be a bad thing.

New Flash: That's what Holder is for.

Last I checked, Holder was over in Justice; not in OMB nor Treasury. Last I checked, Holder had a stable of attorneys at his disposal.

Over the last few years, I've grown fond of the word "vocabulary"; I may even love it. There are vocabularies for many things: vocabularies for tech; for the idiosyncracies of each relationship a person may have; vocabularies for art; for music, for bicycles...you name it, it probably has a unique or near-unique vocabulary.

Here is what I just pasted into the "Contact Us" form at whitehouse.gov:

"It seems that your administration has begun its attempts to alter the vocabulary used to describe torture. This is a fundamental abuse of language to deflect the criticisms  to which you should, even must, listen.

"It's torture: it is not "enhanced interrogation techniques" or "enhanced interrogations" or "these practices" or "techniques" or "enhanced interrogation tactics" or "these techniques and practices" or "interrogation techniques" .

"The name of the thing is Torture.

"We the people are bound by the law of our common, civil, secular society to adhere to the norms of civilized international behavior; we expect our Chief Executive and Administrator to find a way to implement our obligations on the global stage.

"We deserve a Chief Executive who will find a way to secure justice; and not just because we are fundamentally good people."

Whether 1984 is on the list of books that inspired Obama remains to be seen; never mind the question of "Did he learn anything from it?"

Now I suppose I must go and paste it into the relevant Congressional contact forms.

In an enlightened society, comporting itself according to the rule of law, there is an obligation to investigate. Fully, completely, and transparently.

If that investigation uncovers acts criminal, then the individuals who committed or who are committing those acts must answer charges preferred against them.

This investigation of American torturers by Americans is not optional for an enlightened society comporting itself according to the rule of law.