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Obama on habeas corpus:
Obama went on to criticize the Bush administration's suspension of the right of habeas corpus for suspected terrorists. ...
It happened Monday night before a boisterously friendly crowd in a high school gym in this affluent northwestern Detroit suburb, in answer to a woman's rambling question about civil liberties. ...
"Habeas corpus ... is the foundation of Anglo-American law, which says very simply, if the government grabs you, then you have the right to at least ask, `Why was I grabbed?' and say, `Maybe, you've got the wrong person.'
"The reason we have that safeguard is we don't always have the right person. We don't always catch the right person.
"We may think this is Muhammad the terrorist. It might be Muhammad the cab driver. You may think it's Barack the bomb-thrower. But it might be Barack, the guy running for president."
Good. Or better.
Fine words butter no parsnips. Habeas corpus is just a latin phrase without the rule of law, and Obama voted to gut the rule of law, and the Fourth Amendment, by voting for FISA "reform" [cough], one of the few bills this D Congress actually managed to pass. So I don't see how Obama can differentiate himself from McCain on this issue (at least with voters who've followed the issue, as the "rambling" questioner surely hadn't).
That's why it's the economy. Stupid.
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Comments
Weeelllll.....
I remain unforgiving on the subject of FISA.
But I'm very grateful to Obama for trying to show some leadership on this issue, which seems awfully hard to sell to many voters. He gave an excellent -- short, common-sense, down-to-earth -- explanation of why habeas is important to us all, at the same time using rhetoric that humanizes those scary Muslim-type people.
Policy not party!
That's true
I thought it was well put -- though before a friendly audience, I note.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
I agree, it was well put until the "... Barack the bomb-
thrower. But it may be Barack, the guy running for president."
Obama seems to be very focused recently on this "funny name" business. Is that because the polling shows that people still don't know who he is and there are still some that think he's muslim? What is the psychology behind these types of comments: "Even though you may think I have a funny name and my skin color is different, I'm just like you."? I find it irritating that he has to constantly talk about how silly his name is.
I love this job!
It's his narcissism.
He seems genuinely impressed with himself, and thinks you should be, too.
But you already knew that.
I'll give him credit, though. This is the 2nd time I've respected him as a candidate. The only other time was when he actually engaged HRC about their respective visions for healthcare (but Brian Williams was having none of it, as 16 minutes on healthcare was apparently a waste of NBC's precious time).
I wanna hear more from this "They have to worry about catching him first." Obama. I like him.
Obama is running for Victim in Chief
or else National Concern Troll.
I actually don't mind "funny name"
I think it's rather endearing, actually. Back to that horror, the schoolyard. It's humanizing, and a good appeal against prejudice. Obama does have a conversational mode, as opposed to an oratorical mode, and this is part of that. Of course, he should be using it to talk about the fucking economy but that's another issue.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
I Agree
I thought he used it effectively here. Sometimes the funny name thing comes off defensive, but here he did much better, using it offensively to make his point. I thought it worked.
Again, more like this please.
Definitely Better
now the trick will be not to get him to walk it back on Fox. He has something of a habit, like many politicians, of saying one thing to one group and then taking it back when speaking to a group who may disagree.
But I think one way to pressure him not to walk it back is to do what this post does - praise him for getting something right. This is the right thing to say and that's the first step towards doing the right thing. It's not the end, but the beginning and it's an important beginning. So more like this from Obama, please.
Quibble
This is probably the most direct language I've seen him use to answer a question.. my quibble is that there is no need to use a formulation like, "is the foundation of Anglo-American law"
That phrasing sounds like a textbook. It puts Habeus Corpus somewhere outside of you and me.
When a simple: "it is the fundation of OUR laws, without it this would not be America" or something that touches a chord of emotion about ourselves as a people. (I mean how many average Joe and Janes even know what Anglo American refers to...?)
To me, without a teleprompter Obama comes across as if we are his pupils and he is the professor who loves the sound of his own voice. His lawyerly tropes and his inability to curb the urge to use clauses and prepositions sound really boring on radio especially as all I see are these endless sentences wrapping themselves around my ears in waves of air.
Sorry, I do agree that was really "better" of him, Lambert!
dupager
But they need schoolin', and I ain't foolin'
He'll always love the sound of his own voice, but as for the teacher thing - sometimes that's how you have to do it, especially with things as important and yet badly understood as civil rights.
I heard Philly's DA (Lynne Abraham) explain at a town meeting - slowly and carefully, so that you got why it was important, but not condescendingly - why the police couldn't just go around rounding up likely troublemakers. She didn't act as if someone had just taken a dump on the floor just by asking the question.
She still has her cringeworthy moments as a DA, but I basically decided then that she was one of the good guys and have liked her since. (She was also an elected Clinton delegate to the convention, FWIW...)
Better, Indeed.
I like to hear him talk like this. It lets me know that he gets it. The question is when you "get it" and then still choose to vote against protecting civil liberties, how important is it to you, really, and which side of this issue do you actually fall on?
I'm glad he seems to gets it, but I'm not sure if that makes his actions and potential actions for the better or for the worse.