Ok, so it's been 48 hours since Barack Obama has been sworn in as the 44th President of the United States (even less if you count the second oath Barack took), and already he's off to a fantastic start.
First off, he freezes the unfair military tribunal trials going on for the detainees at Guantanamo. He tightens regulations on lobbying so any members of his administration won't be able to lobby him when they leave. He announced his desire to create more transparency and accountability through the Freedom of Information Act. He met with his military council and gave them new policy orders to end the war in Iraq within 16 months. And that was all yesterday.
Today he signed orders to close the Guantanamo detention facility within one year. He signed a proclamation that the United States doesn't torture, and that interrogators are to stick to the Army field manual. He's also ordered a review of the detention policies that were in place.
Yes, in these last two days, our new President has been hard at work undoing a lot of what our last president has done. That, to some, will be a bad thing. But I respectfully disagree. We don't deserve to be the shining beacon of hope in the world if we are no longer a shining beacon of hope. We don't torture. At least, we aren't supposed to. How else will we be able to keep the moral high ground when fighting the "global war on terror"?
So far, he seems to have kept his word on a few of these campaign promises. Let's hope these words and signatures turn into corresponding actions that will lead to some real change in the way we handle our foreign policy.
Next stop, the economy.
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1 comments:
I don't want the "moral high ground", I want the high ground.
I'm also not a fan of "moral victories". ;-)
reinharden
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