So, what is Obama afraid of re: torture prosecutions? One thought.

[LuckyTheDog]

A lot of us are frustrated by Obama's "we'll do better going forward, now let's move on" approach to torture prosecutions. But there could be a good reason such caution. I wonder if this is a tactical retreat.

We almost lost our republic in the aftermath of 9/11. And, we're not (to borrow one of Obama's favorite phrases) out of the woods yet.

Obama knows more than we do about what's going on in Washington. He knows more than we do about what his enemies are capable of.

It could well be that Obama is doing what needs to be done in order to let democracy and the rule of law live to fight another day. Eventually, the entire story will come out. The judgment of history will be harsh regarding the Bush administration. That is, of course, not enough. I'd like to see the laws enforced to their full extent. But... I also don't want to hand the far right and the military an opportunity to do something really, really crazy.

Obama and the Democrats might have to consolidate their power before taking on the torturers.

[babylonsister]

1. Who says he's afraid? He's nixed the idea of a commission, but

not a special prosecutor unless I missed something.

[LakeSamish706]

2. Unless President Obama is directly telling Eric Holder how to run his Justice....

Department (which would amount to interference that we are desperately trying to get away with) then he really has no say in any of this.

[LuckyTheDog]

3. And that is a good thing

But people wonder why Obama is not "leading the charge." I think he might be trying to avoid a coup.

[Warpy]

5. Exactly, "not his job" keeps running through my mind.

It's really up to the DOJ, but he is managing to get a lot of damning material released about those bastards, building a consensus for investigation and trial.

[shraby]

4. Obama has to Pontius Pilate the whole torture thing

and hand it to Holder. Only way he can get it done and not be blamed incessantly for a "partisan witch hunt" even though the witches are up front and center and don't have to be hunted down.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

6. Bingo --

We have a classic "good cop/bad cop" situation, where O is setting himself up to play the good cop. Holder plays bad cop and O tries to deflect the heat to him.

[T Wolf]

7. Any investigation or polite questions in the elevator will be labeled a "partisan witch-hunt"

by the pukes and the media, whether the President is directly involved or not. To believe otherwise is to be ignorant of rethug behavior as clearly illustrated over the last 40 years.

Their argument will be that his appointed AG is doing his bidding, no matter what Obama actually does or says.

So I say, if he is going to be damned anyway, at least he should throw the weight of his bully pulpit behind the effort to achieve justice.

[EFerrari]

8. That's right. Look at what he's doing, not at what he's saying.

He's releasing material that will trigger an investigation. He doesn't seem to think he can say that. If that's the result, that's fine with me, amyway.

[NV Whino]

9. Right

"Obama knows more than we do about what's going on in Washington."

Congress knew more than we did going into Iraq, too. And they were wrong.

[FreakinDJ]

10. It's all politics at this point

If RATpubliCONs allow the HealthCare Reform then Obama will ask the Justic Dept to let up on prosecutions