If the hope for the future that was Barak Obama continues what were some of the worst things that the previous administration did, then I don't see much hope in his second term. Never mind the aquiescing to GOP talking points on issue after issue. Never mind that he has been at best a barely left of center president but all we hear about is "liberal overreach" when discussing the (barely left of center to just right of center to actually quite right of center) policies that he has signed into law. Never mind that a constitutional law professor has done a horrendous job of educating the public with respect to the duties of office, the responsibility of the legislature, the miserably broken failure that is the Senate (maybe because he was a member).
Most of those things can be discounted as politics and public ignorance. The treatment of detainees--including the not actually accused of anything terror suspects at Guantanamo as well as Bradley Manning and the pursuit of whistle blowers in general--is completely within the scope of "things Obama can do better" which is also true of Afghanistan. He needs little to nothing in the way of Congressional approval or support.
If Obama can't get this right (and based on my reading there isn't exactly a lot of fuzziness regarding habeas corpus, and the president--any president--suspending it is engaged in illegal activities) when there is nothing to stop him, when there is little to be gained by doing it wrong, then what hope is there for the future of a nation of laws?
If Obama can't get this right then we deserve whatever hell a GOP president would unleash upon us. Don't mistake my understanding of things. The present and recent past of the GOP demonstrates exactly what we would look forward to: economic stagnation for 90%+ of the population and the country, worse education, less preparation for the future, and a healthy dose of anti-science crap to fill it out. Humanity in this country and the world will be worse off with republicans in charge. No doubt. As things stand with Obama and Democrats right now, however, a faster death of the present means a closer rebirth to a new future.
Of course, I don't really believe that will happen in my lifetime, but as I've said about climate change in the past: if we are headed for a cliff, and one person wants to speed up and the other to slow but not stop, we are doomed either way, so go for the spectacle.
The other side note would be that this doesn't translate down ballot. As things stand, I can't vote for Obama...only Obama.
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