dancingsinging: (Default)
dancingsinging ([personal profile] dancingsinging) wrote2013-05-24 04:19 am

Keeping myself honest--response to Obama's speech

Okay, before I read any insightful/cynical/keen-eyed analyses from anyone else, I just wanted to put myself on the record saying that I was actually impressed with and moved by what Obama said today about closing Guantanamo. I've been all disillusioned about him not closing it and feeling all cynical, but I'm really inspired that the detainees' hunger strike actually is working to get the President of the United States to change his priorities and take another whack at it. I mean, it's inspiring to see in real life (and not just a Timmi Duchamp novel) people who are about as powerless as it's possible to be actually dramatically affect US politics.

But that's not what I started to talk about! What I'm trying to do here is publicly cop to being moved by the President's moving rhetoric, to having some hope that his newfound resolve will actually result in changes toward closing Guantanamo. I feel like I have to write this now, because I suspect that there are a lot of reasons smart people who are paying closer attention will find to by cynical about the whole thing and I don't want to be all fake pretending like I saw it all along. I guess I also want to just go ahead and feel uncynical (I hesitate to use the word "hope" here because it will sound like "Hope(TM)" the campaign slogan) and to believe that sometimes things can work how they're supposed to, that as a country we can do something terribly wrong and shameful but then cop to it and fix it. Closing Guantanamo won't make it fine like we never did that horrible thing, but I want to believe that some aspects of our system work like they're supposed to--that when a few brave people do something like the hunger strike, people who are basically decent will notice and care and then that indignation and anger will actually affect what the government does.

I do want to note, though, regarding the drone program, that I was disturbed that while Obama copped to targeting the US citizen who was actively trying to kill people (although without a court, how do we evaluate that information?) he said nothing about the drone strike that targeted that guy's 16-year-old son. And knowing about that convenient omission, I feel a little queasy about how good the rest of the speech sounded.

But enough about that! I don't want to harsh my own squee right now. I'm still glad he talked about it and set some clear legal guidelines limiting the use of drone strikes.

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