Friday, May 24, 2013

Doppelganger

On drones: “History will cast a harsh judgment on this aspect of our fight against terrorism, and those of us who fail to end it.”

On Gitmo: “Look at the current situation, where we are force-feeding detainees who are holding a hunger strike. Is that who we are? Is that something that our founders foresaw? Is that the America we want to leave to our children?"

Who is this speaking? An intense government opponent? A Rand conservative? A Tea Party enthusiast? No, it is Obama himself at the National Defense University in Washington, talking as if he is outside the governing process, as if he hopes to influence decisions and promote change. It is as if he keeps two intellectual books, one for the daily governing and one for some fantastic campaign he is waging in a parallel universe, and apparently the second world reads about the first in the newspaper.

This is so strange.

Medea Benjamin of Code Pink interrupted his speech. “Excuse me, President Obama, you are commander-in-chief… it’s you, sir,” she shouted.

Code Pink with a moment of clarity?

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