So far, so good...

I couldn't be more pleased with Obama's first 48 hours. It could be argued that Obama did more in 48 hours to restore America's image in the world than Bush did in 8 years to destroy it.

In a sweeping repudiation of the worst human rights abuses of the Bush administration, Obama issued three executive orders and an executive directive yesterday. These actions accomplish a number of key objectives: 1) close the illegal detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, 2) limit interrogation methods to those described in the Army field manual, effectively banning torture, 3) halt extraordinary renditions of detainees to countries that torture.

Following the signing of the orders, Obama said at a press conference, “I can say without exception or equivocation that the United States will not torture”. This seems to be in accord with his assertion that, “We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals”.

What the Bush administration failed to understand is that there are security costs associated with becoming an international pariah by brazenly and rampantly committing the worst kinds of human rights abuses, and that there are security benefits associated with maintaining a legitimate moral standing in the world.

Regardless of how you feel about Obama’s economic policies, etc., the fact that he has so quickly and decisively acted to begin to dismantle the damage done by Bush is more than enough to warrant his election. That America’s moral standing has been so totally diminished was the most pressing issue facing the nation at this point. Obama’s priorities are correctly placed.

This was not an occasion that called for hesitancy. On the contrary, the most effective actions that Obama could take at this point are making a clear, decisive, broad, and immediate condemnation of the illegal practices that have drawn the ire and contempt of the international community. This was not an occasion for bi-partisan decorum.

Obama must now address the Bush administration's domestic Constitutional crimes: the dismantling of domestic civil rights enacted by the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act. Doing so would certainly fall in line with his “False Choice” doctrine.

The sooner the better.

Michelle Obama's dress

just shut the fuck up...

Vindication!

Barack Obama has just selected retired General Eric Shinseki to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, an organization with quite a lot on its plate at this time.

Shinseki is most well-known for clashing with Rumsfeld over the number of troops that would be required to secure the peace in a post-war Iraq. The following is from his address to the Senate Armed Services Committee:

SEN. LEVIN: General Shinseki, could you give us some idea as to the magnitude of the Army's force requirement for an occupation of Iraq following a successful completion of the war?

GEN. SHINSEKI: In specific numbers, I would have to rely on combatant commanders' exact requirements. But I think --

SEN. LEVIN: How about a range?

GEN. SHINSEKI: I would say that what's been mobilized to this point -- something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers are probably, you know, a figure that would be required. We're talking about posthostilities control over a piece of geography that's fairly significant, with the kinds of ethnic tensions that could lead to other problems. And so it takes a significant ground-force presence.

Paul Wolfowitz called this assertion "wildly off the mark", and Rumfeld quietly forced the General from involvement in the Iraq war, eventually precipitating his retirement.

It is now generally accepted by Military officials that Shinseki was right.

Props to Obama for this not-so-subtle nod to Shinseki's Vindication. Let's hope he can do some much-needed good for Veterans.