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What a difference an election makes! Thank goodness we have rid ourselves of the disastrous Bush foreign policy based on fear mongering and our basest human tendencies. Before January 22nd, we had a government that hid evidence of its illegal torture of detainees, continued to escalate it's wars in the Middle East, had no plan in sight for closing Guantanamo Bay (a public symbol of all that has gone awry in America morality), and planned to use odious military tribunals to give the false impression of legitimate court proceedings for Guantanamo detainees (some of whom are undoubtedly dangerous terrorists and some of whom were swept up in incompetent dragnets.) Well, thank goodness that change swept into the White House offering a new hope for the nation's dysfunctional and immoral foreign policy. The Democrats have taken over the presidency and both houses of Congress, bringing new life and new ideas with them. A new day has dawn! Er, uh... Sorry. Someone is whispering in my ear. Excuse me, representatives from Amnesty International would like a word with me. I'll be right back...
(Five minutes later.) Oh, um, well... this is awkward. Apparently, I might have misspoken before. It seems that maybe a few things haven't changed from that list above. Or, um... I mean nothing on that list has changed. President Obama and his comfortable Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress aren't adjusting too well to their new found power. You see, Democrats don't really like or understand power. Even less do they like principles. Sure, they talk a good game (especially when they are out of power - which is often), but when it's their turn to run the show, they seem to mimic their right-wing predecessors unfailingly. Frankly, it is more than a little sad. They are like abused children who grow up only to become abusers themselves.
Let's revisit the list of Bush-era transgressions from above. We still have a President who chooses to hide evidence of torture; we still have a President that escalates wars in the Middle East; we still have a Congress (including 90 members of the Democratically controlled Senate!) that want to keep Guantanamo Bay up and running (and, perhaps even still torturing to this day); and we still have a President that wants to avoid real court proceedings for Guantanamo Bay detainees in favor of the improvised sham military tribunals created by the Bush Administration. The Democratic party's herculean fecklessness is matched only by its monumental cowardice. It would be comical were it not so devastating to our country.
I can almost understand the Democrats' continued deference to corporate America (witness, for instance, Clinton's massive banking deregulation leading to our current financial crisis and Obama's sweetheart bailout to the same banks that caused it). It is disgusting, but at least these politicians are being well compensated with campaign contributions as they ruin the country. These spineless cavings on the transparency and legality of foreign policy, however, offer no real financial incentives. It is cowardice, plain and simple. For decades now, Democrats have been scared shitless to be tagged as "soft on... [insert disastrous policy issue here]." Soft on crime. Soft on drugs. Soft on terrorism. Soft on national security. "Soft on..." is like kryptonite to supposed Democratic principles. The irony, of course, is that as Democrats shamelessly scramble to avoid looking weak on these issues, they prove precisely how soft and spineless they truly are. Even as D.C. insiders discuss the misguided and confused state of the Republican party, the Democrats can't help but roll on their backs and whimper when they see someone who really knows how to use (and abuse) power. It's enough to force a crooked smile, isn't that right, Mr. Cheney?
