PrintJanuary 2, 2011
Hope, change, and helplessness
The anniversary Barack Obama most dreads is approaching, providing stark evidence, even to his base, that he is way over his head when it comes to the responsibilities of governing.
That anniversary, of course, is, as Toby Harnden of the UK Telegraph reminds us:
...the same day he took the presidential oath a second time. It came in the form of a gravely worded executive order.In it, Obama solemnly proclaimed: "The detention facilities at Guantánamo for individuals covered by this order shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than 1 year from the date of this order."The order was signed in the presence of a gaggle of retired senior military officers who had backed Mr Obama's candidacy. One of them, Maj Gen Paul Eaton, declared January 22 a "blockbuster day"
It turns out that the presidency is a lot more complicated than Obama realized from his perspective as a mere talker. The devil is in the details, and in the case of Gitmo, little details like finding alternative places to keep dangerous terrorists are devilish indeed. Outright bribery secured a few slots overseas, most famously the 4 Uyghurs housed in perpetual vacation in Bermuda at US Taxpayer expense. No state in the United States was willing to risk housing these dangerous terrorists on its own soil, and the Democrat-dominated Congress refused to allocate funds for the purpose of tyransferring the prisoners to the mainland.
So Obama's first executive order, regarded by his base as a solemn commitment, is now a colossal joke, evidence that he can't accomplish even that over which he has executive powers. No doubt he would prefer that January 22nd come and go unremarked. But that isn't in the cards, because there are actually lots of left wing Democrats who care passionately over the perceived injustices of holding enemy combatants until the war they launched is over.
Obama's incompetence is what both left and right will memorialize in three weeks.
