Comments on: Not Just Promises

By: Jason Mittell

Jason Mittell — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:44:08 +0000

My optimistic reading on this: Obama believes in evidence-driven decision-making, not knee-jerk principles. So they are in the process of trying to “audit the books” as much as possible to be sure that any changes in course don’t blow up in their faces or require a quick about-face in the face of new information.

Or so I hope.

By: Timothy Burke

Timothy Burke — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:52:52 +0000

Let’s hope. But I’m really disappointed that the Administration has maintained any form of the argument that the President can detain indefinitely. I grant that there is still a difficult problem about what to do with prisoners taken during combat operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere, given that they are not soldiers of another nation. That will take some creative thinking about the interstate system of the 21st Century. But Obama’s administration is so far hedging its bets on executive authority in a way that I do not like at all: this is something where decisive, immediate and unmistakeable action is required within his first six months in office.

By: Ralph

Ralph — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:34:00 +0000

On your second point, Tim, you may have missed the fact that Obama has ordered a complete review of all of GWB’s “signing statements” over the last eight years. As you know, GWB used signing statements far more often than any previous President. Reviewing all those signing statements a very big job for an administration that’s still hiring on personnel and it *could* mean a significant adjustment of executive authority in deference to legislative authority.

By: back40

back40 — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:54:16 +0000

Aye, but this was all expected, no?