Once upon a time I took a lot of heat for calling Obama just another politician, a charismatic empty suit woven of nebulous promises and stitched with threads of unfounded hope. It all just seemed too easy. After nearly a decade of the machinations of Richard "Dick" Cheney and his half wit pal George W. Bush, Obama was a breath of fresh air. He spoke rapturously with a poetic ring to his deep voice and the people responded. He was young, handsome and a Madison Avenue dream, he could be packaged and sold with tremendous success and lo November did come and to the shock, relief and delight of many the world over he won election. He won an historic vote becoming the first African American President of the United States of America.
And now, the first hundred days are past and where are the hopes and dreams? Indeed, perhaps yes we can, but have we? Where is the change that was promised, where is the new day in America? Grim, stupid wars still wage and threaten to escalate. Guantanamo is still in business and between the Democratic controlled House, Senate and Executive there appears to be no hope what so ever to change the state of affairs in that poisonous little corner of Cuba. Habeas Corpus is still off the books and may disappear into the annals of American history as they sink further into the morass of a rule by fear. It seems the change that Obama is believing in right now is a change from the ad hoc approach to unitary executive power a la Bush to a new police state regime that allows for the disappearing of persons without charge or trial for an indefinite (read eternal) period. From the ground up, Obama is planning to create a new and sinister notion of the rule of law that breaks with the long tradition of rights as initially endorsed in the Magna Carta and perhaps most beautifully stated in the Constitution of the United States. Ironic that the new president chose that remarkable document to stand before as he delivered his speech. I can only assume he did so in order to wipe with the words there enshrined.