A Real Litmus Test Of Obama's Committment to Human Rights
Many have been quick to attack Obama, charging he has broken his campaign promises to restore and defend civil liberties. Some of these charges are utterly unwarranted, and fueled from a misunderstanding of the real issues. A case in point: the claim that Obama's support for continuing renditions is a breach of promise, rests on a shaky foundation that fails to differentiate between renditions and extraordinary renditions. There is a world of difference between these two terms. Many other charges leveled against Obama have been related to DOJ legal briefs filed in preexisting trial cases, which supported the Bush Administration's previously held positions in these cases. All of these either falsely attribute motives for the briefs, or are as yet unproven.
There are sound reasons why an incoming President should not begin the term by completely upsetting the apple cart left by the previous President. It is not the duty of a sitting President to initiate criminal investigations into the acts of the Previous President. That is clearly a Congressional duty. If a President were to do this, it would assure a dark future in America: partisan witch trials whenever the party of the sitting President changed. A new President's DOJ should not get involved with wholesale changes in government arguments previously presented in ongoing Federal Court cases. An important element of justice is stability, and stability requires continuity. A new President sails into dangerous uncharted waters if claiming that past law, previously supported by the DOJ is suddenly unconstitutional, because of an election result. Again, this only will lead to horrible Partisan factionalism in the future. A President's duty is to enforce law, unless it is egregiously offensive to the Constitution. Law, enacted prior to a President's inauguration should be invested with a great sense of its legitimacy. If the President does not like the law, (s)he should petition Congress to change it, and not attempt to legislate from within the Executive Branch.
These are many of the reasons that Obama's DOJ has presented arguments in preexisting trial cases that many have viewed as breaking campaign promises. There has also been a great deal of noise generated by pro-Bush factions in false flag operations, as a means to prove that Bush acted properly when President. The left-side of the political bipolarity has allowed itself to be corrupted with an ailment that once only predominated on the right: CONSPIRACY. Ditto-heads are repugnant be they from the left or the right.











