Is President Obama a different person than Senator Obama?

President Obama was my wildly enthisiatic choice for President.  He was clear, determined, focused and called himself a man of change.  Since being elected, he has done many good things.  I was elated when he was elected because I was appalled at the Bush administration's view of civil rights and torture.  I thought that President Obama would change all of that.  Instead, I now feel badly disappointed.    

The first video below shows then-Senator Obama discussing torture. He said, unequivocally, that, "We do not torture." So why has his new CIA Director, Leon Panetta, as reported in the Wall Street Journal said, "President Barack Obama can still use his wartime powers to authorize harsher techniques, if necessary."  In that video, the President said, "We do not farm out torture."  Then why does Panetta say that, "If we render someone we are obviously going to get assurances from that country that the detainee will be treated humanely."  Then why render them at all?    Does this sound like doubletalk? It does to me.

Panetta said, "The administration is evaluating the effectiveness of enhanced interrogation tactics, such as waterboarding and will make recommendations on which should be allowed." The President says we do not torture but the CIA says it is not sure. How can that even be a question?    

Also, the Obama administration is repeating the Bush administration’s “state secrets” claim -- blocking victims of torture from getting their day in court in a critical extraordinary rendition case. And they have told a federal court that military detainees held at Bagram Air Force base in Afghanistan have no legal right to challenge their detention. And the administration is moving forward with the Bush administration’s last-minute effort to deny Mohammed Jawad -- a Guantánamo prisoner who has been held in U.S. custody since he was a teenager -- the chance to challenge his unlawful detention. To top that off, the Pentagon is now claiming that Guantomomo Bay meets humanitarian standards laid out in the Geneva Conventions in spite of overwhelming evidence of widespread torture.  

Finally, the second video shows Senator Obama criticizing President Bush for using signing statements on May 10, 2008, vowing to not use them himself, but then on March 11, 2009, issued his first signing statement.

This must all be a bad dream, but I am awake and the facts are still here.

Video Length 2 min 41 sec


center>Video Length 1 min 32 sec

Same Old, Same Old?---Say it isn't so

President Obama promised to restrict lobbyists from his administration. He said, "Lobbyists entering my administration, you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years. When you leave government, you will not be able to lobby my administration for as long as I am president."

But that seems anything but the truth. The second most important job in the Pentagon, where billions upon billions of weapons systems are purchased, is to be headed by William Lynn, a recent lobbyist for Raytheon Corporation, one of the largest defense contractors in the world.  It is impossible for Lynn to NOT WORK ON matters involving Raytheon and he lobbied the Defense Department.

William Corr has been nominated to be Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Until recently, Corr was a registered lobbyist for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.   It is impossible for Corr to NOT WORK ON matters regarding tobacco and he lobbied HHS.

At the Treasury Department, Secretary Timothy Geithner has hired former Goldman Sachs lobbyist Mark Patterson to be his chief of staff. Patterson was a registered lobbyist until April.  It is impossible for Peterson to NOT WORK ON matters regarding Goldman Sachs and Wall Street. And he lobbied Treasury.

The National Journal is reporting fourteen of the 112 White House staffers that Obama has named had been registered as lobbyists at some point since 2005. The list includes Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod and Homeland Security adviser John Brennan.

The Obama administration explains that some very important minds, invaluable to the country, need waivers from the policy in order to enable the use of extrordinary talent.  If this is really true, then it just shows how incestuous is the marriage between the federal government and industry.  Is it, No, no, Nannette, but then let's jump into bed?  But are there so few talented minds in America where only one will do?  Please!  Don't try to pull my chain.  Is President Obama, "but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, full of  sound and fury and signifying nothing?"  Surely not.  But he hasn't made a graceful takeoff of Good Ship Lollypop.

Video Length 5 min 4 sec