General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: President Obama and the Michael Brown case [View all]zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)I really can't find fault with much of what he's done in the present. Because of his position, he has to avoid the real problem of appearing to influence investigations or grand juries.
However, longer term, this isn't the first time he's faced these larger issues and he has continually avoided addressing them on any real level. During the whole OWS days, there was wide spread abuse by local police agencies and basically he never addressed the problem on any real or continuing level. He has never done anything to change the militarization of our police forces. The hardware transfers of military hardware continue as much as ever. The DOJ has had no on going investigations into the use of the hardware, or of police abuse in general associated with public protest.
And I don't expect this to change. He'll have Justice conduct an investigation, but there will be no particular wide range of change to the relationship between the federal law enforcement and the local police departments. Hardware transfers will continue. Military training of police forces will continue. DHS will continue to incorporate local police departments into the larger fight against terrorism. The FBI will continue to incorporate local police into the "war on drugs". In short there will be no real change. And it will happen again. And the outrage will be raised again. And he'll make some nice speeches and use them as "teachable moments", and the DOJ will investigate, and then it will be back to the normal.