Rich: Obama Can’t Turn the Page on Bush

Doctor_J

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Sat May-16-09 09:52 PM
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Rich: Obama Can’t Turn the Page on Bush

No matter how hard President Obama tries to turn the page on the previous administration, he can’t. Until there is true transparency and true accountability, revelations of that unresolved eight-year nightmare will keep raining down drip by drip, disrupting the new administration’s high ambitions.

That’s why the president’s flip-flop on the release of detainee abuse photos — whatever his motivation — is a fool’s errand. The pictures will eventually emerge anyway, either because of leaks (if they haven’t started already) or because the federal appeals court decision upholding their release remains in force. And here’s a bet: These images will not prove the most shocking evidence of Bush administration sins still to come.

...

The administration can’t “just keep walking” because it is losing control of the story. The Beltway punditocracy keeps repeating the cliché that only the A.C.L.U. and the president’s “left-wing base” want accountability, but that’s not the case. Americans know that the Iraq war is not over. A key revelation in last month’s Senate Armed Services Committee report on detainees — that torture was used to try to coerce prisoners into “confirming” a bogus Al Qaeda-Saddam Hussein link to sell that war — is finally attracting attention. The more we learn piecemeal of this history, the more bipartisan and voluble the call for full transparency has become.

...

If the Obama administration really wants to move on from the dark Bush era, it will need a new commission, backed up by serious law enforcement, to shed light on where every body is buried.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/opinion/17rich-5.html?_r=1

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Captain Hilts

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Sat May-16-09 09:57 PM
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1. That's just too bad. Rich helped elect GWB. nt

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LakeSamish706

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Sat May-16-09 10:02 PM
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2. Now there in we have a problem... Cause you see GW Bush was never "elected"....

Not in either 2000 or 2004 in 2000 he was given the election by the Supreme Court and 2004 he was awarded the election by the touch screens...

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Captain Hilts

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Sat May-16-09 10:05 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. Install?

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Kablooie

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Sat May-16-09 11:11 PM
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4. He's probably right that Bush will continue to haunt him unless there is accountability.

If the Bush administration is truly brought to justice and made accountable for their crimes, then and only then, will the American people be able to put the Bush years behind them and move into the future.

Otherwise Obama will be dealing with anger about, and comparisons to Bush for his full time in office.

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snowdays

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Sun May-17-09 12:02 AM
Response to Reply #4

6. yes, we need a sort of funeral before we can move on.

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jgraz

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Sat May-16-09 11:16 PM
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5. Frank Rich, welcome to the underside of the Party Purity bus

Don't worry, all the cool people are down here.

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Psychic Consortium

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Sun May-17-09 08:40 AM
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7. Obama is controlling the story perfectly. Justice will be served. nt

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4_TN_TITANS

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Mon May-18-09 07:43 AM
Response to Reply #7

8. "Obama is controlling the story perfectly."

My sentiments as well. He's doing a fabulous job of fanning the flames of interest and outrage, while making it look like he's not the least bit interested in a *-administration witch hunt.

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Psychic Consortium

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Mon May-18-09 09:34 AM
Response to Reply #8

9. Absolutely. He is genius.

Most people vastly underestimate Obama.

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