Two nights in a row, I’m going to try to keep it short. I got home tonight in time to watch President Obama’s news conference apparently celebrating his first 100 days in office. And I have to say, this was the first time in my adult life that I felt reassured after listening to our President at a news conference. Maybe it’s just the stark difference from the previous President who would have had a difficult time gaining a top grade in my 6th grade English class based on how he butchered the language on a regular basis (especially when he had to “ad-lib”). Obama took all questions, his answers were very thoughtful, and he demonstrated clearly that HE IS IN CHARGE. All reassuring! That all being said, as the late Paul Harvey would have added, “now, for the rest of the story.”

A couple thoughts about what President Obama did (or didn’t) say, while I was listening – forgive me if he talked about this before I turned on the tube. He was concluding what was apparently a barrage of questions about torture and explaining why the United States will not torture in the future and why we shouldn’t have done so in the previous 8 years (I believe the dirty little secret that no one is talking about is that our CIA has been involved in this type of stuff since the 70’s – at least according to Naomi Klein in “The Shock Doctrine”). What President Obama didn’t do was address the question (at least directly) that many have about the accountability “factor” that seems to be missing from much of his innuendo. That is probably by design, and probably wise, but I believe that Obama knows full well there’s going to be accountability for the use of torture and more importantly for the authorization of it right from the President’s desk, whether he wants this or not. If our own Justice department doesn’t take up the “torch” so to speak, some other Justice department will. According to the Geneva Conventions, any country that is a signatore to the Conventions is obligated to seek prosecution in any case where there is clear evidence that torture has been committed. So, while I believe that is going to happen, I just – at this point, as I stated a couple months ago on this site – hope we intend to show the entire world that we will hold our own accountable without help from the Spanish, or anyone else.

There was another interesting “tidbit.” No one asked President Obama about the reality that he is continuing the warrantless wiretapping policy of the Bush administration and that he has stealthily let it be known that he “doesn’t want to give up that power.” Again, as I’ve stated before, THAT IS A POWER THAT HE DOESN’T HAVE!!! The question posed asked Obama about the use of the “State Secrets” defense regarding impending lawsuits, a couple of which involved the Bush use of illegal wiretapping. President Obama neatly sidestepped the issue by saying that Attorney General Eric Holder and his White House Counsel were reworking the State Secrets policy (I’m not sure if that’s the appropriate word) so that it can be less of a hindrance to legitimate lawsuits. Unfortunately, the subject of the FISA law that President Obama promised to “redo” or “fix” once in office never came up, and he now has the defense of “There’s a lot on my plate” to allow him to inconspicuously keep this terrible intrusion on our right to privacy in effect.

Please don’t get me wrong – for the most part I believe Obama is doing a wonderful job as President – maybe I just got used to complaining when President Bush was in office. But, I believe with all my heart that because Bush was so wrong about so many things, and we have a group of Republicans who are running around essentially claiming we should still be doing those things, that we need to make sure we CLARIFY THIS IS A COUNTRY “RULED BY LAWS AND NOT MEN!” The idea we have publicized what happened and have promised it won’t happen again means NOTHING to these people. If you don’t believe me, just take a moment or two to listen to Dick Cheney as he runs from one Fox “news” show to another defending all that was wrong with the Bush administration. And you’ve got the Hannity’s, the Limbaugh’s, the Boehner’s, and a bunch more falling in line (like Republicans have a tendency of doing). If the lawbreakers of the Bush administration are not punished – through legal prosecutions where appropriate – THESE GUYS WILL BE BACK! (each time this group comes back it is worse than the previous time) President Obama himself warned about “writing off” the Republican party – which some are doing now that Arlen Specter has given the Democrats an imaginary 60 vote majority in the Senate. I totally agree with him which leads me to my thought of the day: President Obama’s doing a great job, but we can’t move forward without looking backward!