General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Charles P Pierce- The President's worst moment [View all]cheapdate
(3,811 posts)myself NOT included, find compelling and convincing. I've argued this point many times with my conservative friends and it's an argument for which I've almost never been able to win any concession.
I think that the practice of torture, or "enhanced interrogation techniques" as the Bush administration labeled it, ended under president Obama. I think that the president's decision, supported by Nancy Pelosi and many Democrats, in 2010 to "look forward" and not backward was justifiable ethically as well as in practical terms. Ethically, the accomplishments of the administration, including the passage of health care reform and the prevention of a catastrophic economic depression, are balanced against pursuing what would have been a long, bitter, hyper-partisan, all-consuming, legal and constitutional showdown over war crimes of the previous administration.
I don't like the dismissive language Obama used at all, but as I said, for me that's secondary to the astonishing admission this president made.