Good call, Mr. President

I am impressed by the way Obama has rebuffed the leftist nagging to set up a "Truth" commission to investigate the enhanced interrogation techniques and the people who signed off on/employed them during the Bush Administration. To reject such a farce of a committee is not synonymous with condoning torture and the folks on the left fringe of the Democratic party need to stop making this dubious connection.

For Pelosi and company, this sort of commission is simply a way to rub Bush Administration lackeys' noses in the piss they left on the good name of this country. It's the most juvenile form of retribution; it's something that happens in a banana republic when one dictatorship overthrows another one. It's not something a democracy does, period. In the words of my father, "it's time for the Democrats to take their own advice and 'moveon.org'".

However, I don't think Obama's rejection of the panel completely comes down to clairvoyance; I think he understands that we have very pressing issues to deal with and a circus like Congressional Democrats are proposing is just that, a circus; a sideshow; a distraction. With so many "grey" issues (ie complicated), Congressional Democrats finally had something that was absolute. They cynically think they can sell this to their "dumb" constituents by getting in front of every television camera and spouting off against the transgressions of the evil Bush-Cheney empire. It's merely populist comfort food.

The fact of the matter is, this issue is not as clear-cut as Congressional Democrats think. Forget the conservatives out there who think God and Jesus give Amuricans the right to draw and quarter any Nazi-Commie-Jew-Abortion-loving tur'rist (ie anyone who doesn't like George Bush or Rush Limbaugh). But, many people out there who are ambivalent about politics are also ambivalent about "enhanced interrogation techniques". They rationalize that the people who are being interrogated want to kill as many people as they can so they can be Allah's rock star, so what's wrong with pressing them a little harder, so that maybe some innocent lives will be spared. They also rationalize with facts, like enhanced interrogation sometimes brings out "false" confessions, given in haste by the recipient so the pain will stop. They waver between thoughts like this, never really taking a side.

Obama and Emmanuel recognize this fence-sitting and wisely have not gotten wrapped up in the hysteria of this non-issue. After all, we've all pretty much known about this and pretty much gotten over it. Closing Guantanamo was a great step; making an announcement at the CIA was another and, in my opinion, a sufficient way to close the book on this dark chapter in our national history.

In taking both of these steps, the Administration is trying to take the spotlight off of this issue and direct it somewhere else. Because the bottom line is, we might not be taking as extreme an approach to interrogating suspects, but anyone who thinks we stopped all enhanced techniques is fooling themselves. In trying to let our interrogators fade back into the shadows, Obama is better enabling them to do what it is they are supposed to do and keep us safe. Please, let's moveon.org.