It looks as though Obama, the president, is overruling Obama, the candidate, by acknowledging that the military tribunal system may continue to be used with regards to Guantanamo detainees. Sure, they will be modified, but the detainees will probably not have many more rights than under Bush's version of the system.
This whole matter is starting to sound like a big game. Let's make this minor change in the rules. Let's try this one by the military and this one by a regular court. They seem to want to parse this issue indefinitely. Does the government have a strong case against these guys or not? Are we a nation of laws or not?
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This a sad but not surprising development. Obama, despite having been a professor of constitutional law, quote unquote, showed his true colors during the campaign, when he voted for the FISA bill after having promised to filibuster it. The man is no constituionalist. Sure, he's no Bush or Cheney. But that's not saying much.
Admittedly he has a tough problem on his hands with all these prisoners he inherited from Bush. But hell, nobody made him run for the job; it was his own free choice.
If he can't find a way to solve the problems within the bounds of the constitution, he should resign.
Now, isn't that a quaint concept.
Of course, that would leave us with Biden as president.
Think I'll have another beer and stop thinking about it for now.
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