I hope someone is keeping a tally on the number of george bush's actions that Obama's team is repudiating and overturning. Two more caught my eye today:
Interior Secretary Salazar cancelled drilling and mining rights that bush had given last minute approval for on the edge of several national parks and environmentally sensitive areas.
It was announced today that the government will no longer call it "the war on terror." Not only was it a misnomer -- terror is a tactic, not a country -- but it led to faulty thinking about the problem. As long as you simply think of "terror" as an evil loose in the world, you do not think about what is the cause behind people using this tactic.
As a tactic, it is often highly effective -- as in 9/11 when relatively little outlay by the perpetrators caused such devastation. But we also need to realize that terrorist tactics are often the only recourse to those without resources to protect themselves against powerful oppressors -- like throwing stones at soldiers with guns. There are many examples of that in the Middle East conflicts. Understanding the causes is not the same as excusing the tactics; but it may be part of the solution.
When Rush and his crowd stary braying that Obama is giving up on the war on terror, I hope plenty of defenders will stand up and say "Bullshit!! We're not going to continue to be stupid and ignorant, just because you are and have a big microphone."
Ralph
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Another one: Obama had already said it, but today Leon Panetta, his CIA Director-nominee, reiterated that there will not be any more extreme rendition, ie sending enemy combatants and prisoner to another country to be tortured.
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