Obama: Maybe Not So Progressive After All, Part Two
I never knew that protecting torturers from their crimes was a progressive value.
In its first months in office, the Obama administration sought to protect Bush administration officials facing criminal investigation overseas for their involvement in establishing policies the that governed interrogations of detained terrorist suspects. A “confidential” April 17, 2009, cable sent from the US embassy in Madrid to the State Department—one of the 251,287 cables obtained by WikiLeaks—details how the Obama administration, working with Republicans, leaned on Spain to derail this potential prosecution.
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The Americans, according to this cable, “underscored that the prosecutions would not be understood or accepted in the US and would have an enormous impact on the bilateral relationship” between Spain and the United States. Here was a former head of the GOP and a representative of a new Democratic administration (headed by a president who had decried the Bush-Cheney administration’s use of torture) jointly applying pressure on Spain to kill the investigation of the former Bush officials. Lossada replied that the independence of the Spanish judiciary had to be respected, but he added that the government would send a message to the attorney general that it did not favor prosecuting this case.The next day, April 16, 2009, Attorney General Conde-Pumpido publicly declared that he would not support the criminal complaint, calling it “fraudulent” and political.
Go read the rest.
and then ask yourself: would a progressive protect torturers? would a progressive cut secret deals with hospital and the insurance industry, promising there would be no public option? Would a progressive build his health care insurance reform on the “successes” of Romneycare? Would a progressive escalate a losing war? Would a progressive institute a federal wage freeze that plays into Republican themes? Would a progressive cave on tax cuts for the wealthy and get nothing in return? Would a progressive identify himself as a Blue Dog?
Not a progressive. But a typical corrupt triangulating politician would.
that’s Obama, in a nutshell. There’s your hope and change business as usual.
