The Free Man

The Lieberman thing is pressing the predictable buttons out in Netrootsia, with smarter Donks feigning shock and dumber ones actually feeling it, as the Governing Class shows itself more inclined to embrace and forgive one of its own than to cater to impotent bloggers who will raise money and vote for whomever they're told to vote for regardless. Uh, what Digby says:

I think it's also pretty clear that if anyone thought there would be any investigations into Bush administration atrocities or judiciary committee hearings into the abuses of the executive branch, they can forget it.

Ya think? Perhaps this was meant as parody, because I find it difficult to imagine any breathing human being seriously entertaining the idea that Barack Obama's first order of executive business would be to strip himself of powers accrued to the office during the previous administration.

I suppose I'll never stop repeating it: the "atrocities" of the Bush administration were atrocities perpetrated by America for years, for decades. That they were practiced with less circumspection, and by a factional opponent against whom some electoral purchase might be gained--these are the only reasons todays putative liberals care. You can imagine when some of these "atrocities" are shown to have roots in the Clinton administration, in the Carter administration, under Kennedy, back to Wilson . . . well, Smears! Right Wing Noise Machine! Media!

President Obama will avail himself of the full powers available to him. He'll make placatory cosmetic changes--"closing Guantanamo"--to please his base, but does anyone think he's going to stop running black ops in Pakistan, that he's going to repudiate his bellicose posture toward Iran, that he's going to actually leave Iraq, as opposed to drawing down and retreating to heavily-fortified garrisons from which we might "respond to the contingencies in the region"? Hell, of course they're letting Lieberman stay. They're on the same side.