Senator Diane Feinstein has been working on a report covering CIA “activities” in the years since 9/11/01, a massive 3,000 page accounting. A thousand page “abstract” is supposed to be released very shortly, like next week. The release of the abstract is only after months of negotiations with the CIA and the Obama administration. Republicans oppose the release. Yesterday, however, Secretary of State John Kerry called Feinstein and, in the language of the diplomat, told her that there is a lot happening in the world right now, that is, Kerry told Feinstein in the language of the diplomat, “I agree with the Republicans, don’t release it.”
No president in history inherited a more fixable mess than Barack Obama. And Obama had a clear mandate to make the "Change" upon which he had campaigned, he had the support within America and in Congress, and he had the support of the world, winning the Nobel Peace Prize before he was fully unpacked.
Health care had long been an American fixable mess and Obama fixed it with his Affordable Care Act, the first president to ever enact national health insurance program in Americans. The Great Recession Obama inherited was not the Great Depression, not even the greatest recession. America knows how to fix those things, has had long experience fixing those things, Obama "got it" and fixed it too.
Obama also inherited a country with a sick soul. Unknown to the American people but known or knowable to Senator Obama and known and knowable to President Obama was the secret parallel government that his predecessor had injected into the body politic. A serious pathogen, it had grown in the body unchecked and had changed America's soul.
The soul of a thing, it's "animating principle," is a serious thing to tamper with but a sick soul is fixable, too. However twice now, Barack Obama has deliberately decided not to change, not to fix America's soul and twice he has done so in underhanded ways. Last year Congressional Democrats had negotiated with the administration and Republicans reform to the National Security Agency. At the last minute Obama's operatives pressed Democrats to dilute the law even further. And as with NSA, now with Kerry's call to Feinstein, now with CIA. The Republicans inherit the Senate in January, Feinstein, a Democrat, has a very short period of time in order to get this negotiated abstract made public. After January it will never see the light of day or be read by the eyes of ordinary Americans. So for John Kerry to call Diane Feinstein and urge her to "wait" a little, that's Obama wanting the report killed altogether.
A fixable mess is going unfixed. That's on Barack Obama.
No president in history inherited a more fixable mess than Barack Obama. And Obama had a clear mandate to make the "Change" upon which he had campaigned, he had the support within America and in Congress, and he had the support of the world, winning the Nobel Peace Prize before he was fully unpacked.
Health care had long been an American fixable mess and Obama fixed it with his Affordable Care Act, the first president to ever enact national health insurance program in Americans. The Great Recession Obama inherited was not the Great Depression, not even the greatest recession. America knows how to fix those things, has had long experience fixing those things, Obama "got it" and fixed it too.
Obama also inherited a country with a sick soul. Unknown to the American people but known or knowable to Senator Obama and known and knowable to President Obama was the secret parallel government that his predecessor had injected into the body politic. A serious pathogen, it had grown in the body unchecked and had changed America's soul.
A fixable mess is going unfixed. That's on Barack Obama.
