Whats an appropriate forward looking response for those political entities who engage in torture? I'm wondering if Obama is onto something when he gradually releases the truth about why the conservative extremists should be ashamed of the last eight years.
Is the worst thing you can do to a Republican or conservative to marginalize their ego or sense of identity by identifying all their positions as shameful in the national consensus? Shame and Ostrification may be small accountability for torture, but if your secret fear is being bugged and they put one on you what happens can be suprising.
As more and more information about the things the Bush administration thought it should keep secret come to be released will that eventually make any reference to the legacy of Bush Co. something to be as embarased about and carefully avoided as responsibility for them?
The container of embarassment is getting full to overflowing. We can expect that the smell of this garbage dump eventually becomes so offensive to Americans that it can no longer be spun sweet by neocon pundits like Rush, Beck, Palin, Bucannan, Scarborough or Wikipedia. Clearly as the economy recovers, wars come to an end, and Obama suceeds people spouting the failed policies of the past become increasingly marginalized, shunned and ostracised.
Obama has us emerging out of a septic system into some hope of competence.
I'm expecting that the economic actions taken by the Obama administration over the last twelve weeks will forever demolish the deregulation of Phil Graham, the clamour about tea bagging and Bush Era tax breaks, free markets and the need for certain kinds of military industrial spending to stimulate the economy at the expense of healthcare, education, social security, the environment, alternative energy and diplomacy. Shame on Reagans Voodoo Economics.
At some point leadership kicks in and sets the stage for followers. Bush set the stage for terror and violence. Obama puts that stage to shame by encouraging people to hope for the best and have confidence things will get better.
Even conservatives can recognize it when their favorite talking points become marginalized. Obama has reframed the discussion of the NRA's fundamentalist support for the right to keep and bear arms in terms of cracking down on drug gangs and their lawless terror.
If you insist on your right to defend yourself against the outlaws invading your home to kill your wife and kids with assault rifles bazooka's, and grenades is that really fair to your family when Obama says hey, we are going to bring our armies home to defend you, but you need to work with us and help keep these dangerous weapons out of the pipeline. Shame on you if you won't support the troops and let them do their job properly.
I can see Obama dealing with ruthless outlaws be they Somali pirates, Mexican biker and prison gangs, or corporate exploitationists with the choice of open hand or closed fist. I can see how putting people to work at legitimate jobs can combat the choice of crime as a means to make a living sucessfully.
I give him big points for cutting back on the idea that big corporate salaries can be justified while workers starve. Shame on ruthless greed, fear and violence.
I'd even allow that if we go to places like Israel and North Korea, Russia, Iran, India, Pakistan and China and say we will help you develop your nuclear energy for peaceful purposes if you agree to help us limit nuclear proliferation of weapons that may have some success. Shame on competition for dominence when we need to be cooperating to save the planet from global warming and the energy crisis.
If you go to Africa starting in places like Darfur and Somalia, and to the Middle East starting in places like Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and to Latin and South America starting in places like Brazil and Mexico and to Oceanasia starting in places like Sri Lanka and Indonesia with armies of aid workers bringing food, infrastructure, healthcare and education instead of weapon systems designed to bring security for regimes and ask in return for cooperation in raising standards of living for communities as opposed to their hard core gangsters only, you might find some success.
Shame on the spread of fear, make room for the spread of hope.