Barack Obama: the politics of hypocrisy and cynicism

[bijou]

It was supposed to be all about the end of politics as usual. But while President Barack Obama has been happy to bring about change while abroad by doing all he can to diminish the superpower status of the United States, at home it's been the same old, writes Toby Harnden.
 
Take the case of Greg Craig, the first big figure to depart the Obama White House and the victim of the Washington equivalent of a back-alley stabbing. A respected lawyer who defended President Bill Clinton during impeachment, the former State Department official was one of the first big guns to break with the Clintons and go all in for Obama.
Bowing to the wishes of Hillary Clinton, who blocked him from his preferred field of foreign policy, Craig was made White House Counsel.
He was charged with closing Guantanamo Bay, overhauling interrogation rules and translating Obama's high-minded campaign ideals into workable policy.
Having issued a directive on his second full day in office that Guantanamo Bay would close "no later than one year from the date of this order", Obama soon came up against reality. Last week, he lamely conceded that he would miss his own deadline but "would anticipate" the jail shutting in 2010.
Faithfully implementing Obama's wishes, Craig drew up plans for the release of photos of American troops engaging in the abuse of prisoners.
Faced with fierce opposition from generals and former CIA chiefs the President then changed his mind.
Before you could whisper "change we can believe in", Craig became the designated scapegoat for Obama's photos U-turn and the Guantanamo debacle. The campaign had been free of leaks but Craig was knifed by Team Obama in time-honoured Washington. He was toast, confided anonymous officials who portrayed him as an incompetent in the thrall of bed-wetting human rights types. ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/6622103/Barack-Obama-the-politics-of-hypocrisy-and-cynicism.html

[Baruch Menachem]

This is but one snowflake that is rolling down the hill. It will meet with others on its way down, gathering into an ever larger movement until come November 2012, the 0ne is buried like Carter.

[thundley4]

This is but one snowflake that is rolling down the hill. It will meet with others on its way down, gathering into an ever larger movement until come November 2012, the 0ne is buried like Carter.

[declineofanation]

How about his hypocrisy when he preaches financial austerity to the nation but is living it up at our expense? I blogged about it here.