Friday, January 23, 2009

Gitless

Let's see. In two days Obama has:

- Outlawed torture and ordered the repeal of every Bush executive order on interrogations
- Prevented the CIA from operating "black site" prisons
- Closed the detainee camp at Guantanamo, probably initiating a review for the detainees held there
- Asked government agencies to give FOIA requests the benefit of the doubt, which will free up a lot of government documents
- Disallowed ex-presidents from claiming executive privilege in order to hide their records

Spiffy. This more than makes up for the stimulus scam, in my mind.

Add to that this unexpected heaping helping of win from Congo (which is awesome for a multitude of reasons, not least of which it signals that Rwanda might quit trying to screw its neighbor over), and it's a pretty good week.

6 comments:

Mike said...

He's off to a pretty good start. The "stimulus scam", as you accurately call it, is unfortunate, but I think it's simply another element of the overarching plan which seems to be restoring the citizenry's faith in government. The downside, of course, is that the more faith people have in the government, the more they may grow to depend on it for things they shouldn't. But the push for transparency and the reduction of executive power and privilege (which is a pretty remarkable thing for an executive to do) does serve to reinforce that the government is "of the people, by the people, and for the people".

Either way, remember this the country's honeymoon with Obama. It's mostly going to be wild crazy monkey sex for a while. But after we return, settle in, and catch our breath, we'll realize there are bills to be paid and jobs to do, and get stressed out and probably fight a lot more. Which doesn't necessarily mean people shouldn't enjoy the honeymoon and the wild crazy monkey sex, just that they should keep in the back of their heads that it won't always be like this. And, let's face it, the previous marriage was so bad, and the divorce so long and drawn out, that this one is bound to seem better by comparison. Okay, I really should stop with the marriage analogy now.

Pretty cool about the Rwanda thing too.

Matthew B. Novak said...

So by analogy is Iraq the child we had with Bush? Can we get a court order saying Bush has to pay child support?

Ben said...

Can we call the first days of the Obama administration anything besides "monkey sex"? Even "duck sex" would be fine.

Christy had a small stuffed animal in her office. As a running joke, she put up a card saying it was running for President. She was informed by her boss that "Monkey for President" may not be the wisest thing in the world to write at a time when the first major black candidate was running for President.

So....not that I'm saying Mike was calling Obama a monkey. And not that I'm against monkeys having sex during the early days of the Obama administration. But can't we all agree instead it should be duck sex? Duck sex, everyone?

(And with phrases like "Duck sex, everyone?" Ben guarantees that he will never hold elective office himself. Hopefully he will continue to hold a job.)

Ben said...

Oh, I forgot to explain that Christy's stuffed animal was a stuffed monkey. Crucial piece of information there.

Mike said...

Matt, extending that analogy let's say Bush got custody of Iraq (since it will most be part of his legacy). So we are the ones paying child support on it. That fits a little better, methinks.

Ben, I'd be lying if I said the potential racial implications of using the term "monkey sex" didn't cross my mind. But I thought that the ridiculousness of the entire diatribe would make it clear that I am not apparently of sound mind anyway, so no one would care. Besides I couldn't think of a better term. And of course, now I suddenly have it: I should have said, "wild crazy kumquat sex". On second thought, make that "wild crazy unprotected kumquat sex".

Ben said...

Yes, Mike, you certainly should have said "wild crazy unprotected kumquat sex" from the very beginning.