Friday, May 22, 2009

Obama's a Constitutional Scholar?

Believe it or not, this is an actual Associated Press story, not a White House press release.
In soaring rhetoric, Barack Obama ran through his logic for closing the Guantanamo Bay prison, deliberately planting himself on the middle ground between his conservative critics — led by Dick Cheney — and those to the left who accuse the new president of failing to restore American justice for all.

Obama slid easily back into his role as constitutional scholar, gliding through a long, carefully reasoned brief in the rotunda of the storied National Archives on Thursday. One of his aims appeared to be diminishing Cheney's message across town in a cramped-by-comparison conference hall at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

Plans for Obama's speech were made public only a week ago, several days after Cheney's appearance was known.

In the company of original copies of the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights, Obama stood firm behind his decision — announced on the second day of his presidency — to close the Guantanamo prison, a lockup reviled in the Muslim world and a drag on U.S. relations with many of its oldest allies.
...
But that did not seem to be Obama's top concern. He seemed more intent on placing himself between the Cheneyites and his critics on the left who are bitterly complaining the president is not strongly defending American legal protections.
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While Obama sought to sway critics, the wounds opened in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, still may remain too fresh to be salved by Obama's densely crafted visions to hold sway.
HT Ace.

Apparently Obama's AP stenographer is unaware that was a fake Constitution in the background.

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