But It's Okay When We Do It

Greenwald on the usual Village kabuki a.k.a. the Rule of Law

...the "tone" Obama uses to talk about these things is different (and that, in my view, matters). Moreover, Obama explicitly banned several Bush policies that were already discontinued by the time he was inaugurated ("enhanced interrogation techniques," CIA black sites, circumvention of Congressional statutes on detention and surveillance). And, though Baker does not note this, Obama has also recently taken some potentially meaningful steps to increase government transparency. But as Adam Serwer has explained, the most important point of Baker's discussion is that there are very few real policy differences between the two administrations in these areas, and Dick Cheney's embittered attacks on Obama (and the media's obsession with them) have done a favor for the administration by casting the false appearance that there are.

Indeed, as demonstrated by the progressive praise of Obama for "upholding the rule of law," the most significant consequence of his first year in office, in the area of civil liberties, is that -- with a few exceptions (most notably torture) -- he has transformed what were once highly controversial Republican "assaults on the Constitution" into bipartisan consensus which both parties now embrace, thus ensuring -- as Baker put it -- "that much of the Bush security architecture is almost certain to remain part of the national fabric for some time to come, thanks to Obama." Thus, a President who imprisons people with military commissions or even no charges at all -- and constantly invokes secrecy claims to shield the Executive Branch from judicial review over allegations of lawbreaking -- is now hailed -- by progressives -- as a stalwart defender of "the rule of law."

Big Time Dick's sniping at the DINOcrat security apparatus isn't just the usual Reptilian Hatfield vs. McCoy feuding.

Big Time has no love these days for Poppy's factors like Robert Gates, who did a good job of gelding the Cheney-Addington cabal back when Junior was holding court.

You could probably argue that the banksters going over to Obama in the last $election was proof positive that Junior's Ba$e was still really Poppy's Ba$e, and not about to have another Cheney in charge. They want figureheads, not bosses, in the Oval Office. McCain was to erratic and Palin honestly thinks the Apocalypse is a strategery for Empire.

Neither would have been good for business.