Nov '09: Let's hit the ground running with demands for the new Administration.

[Jackpine Radical]

Before Barack ever takes office, let's make some things perfectly clear to him about just what we want.

First, there will be no Nixonesque pardons for anyone in the outgoing Administration. The new Justice Department will quietly begin work before even taking office. They will prioritize the criminal offenses of the past 8 years of Bush misrule, and investigations into the most serious and provable of those offenses will start immediately.

Second a special Committee to Restore Rights, composed of legal experts and prominent civil libertarians inside and outside the government, will examine the damage wrought upon the Constitution and Bill of Rights in the Bush years, and will bring forth a set of recommendations for legislative action to repair the damage. There will be special attention given to the restoration of habeas corpus. Also, an explicit proposal for legislation shall be written to ensure citizens' rights to privacy in their personal lives and communications.

In other words, we have to reclaim the government an re-establish the rule of law for the people before moving on to any of the other pressing and urgent issues facing us. This won't happen automatically. We need to push, yell, scream, and in general make total nuisances of ourselves until we start seeing the results we want. It won't happen automatically just because we got "our guy" in power.

[elleng]

1. Lets not!

Anyone remember early demands on Clinton by gay community? Don't Ask; Don't Tell!

Its another example of dems eating their own, and it don't do no one any good, IMO.

[RoyGBiv]

2. How 'bout we work on getting him elected first ...

K. THX. Bye.

[Faygo Kid]

3. Bingo. Bush is vetoing Medicare this weekend. I have bigger issues than "demands" on Barack.

We are falling into the abyss now more rapidly than ever, and there is worry about "demands" on Barack Obama?

If we get there, I will deal with "demands" then. Insanity.

[gblady]

6. totally agree....

with some polls almost in a dead heat...
I'd say, let's concentrate on getting Barack in the White House...

[Gman]

4. Nobody can do a damn thing about the pardons that are coming

pardons are the exclusive right of the president for whatever reason, or no reason at all.

[TayTay]

5. Ah how about

1) pass some money along to LIHEAP so Americans in danger of freezing to death this winter get some help.

2) pass some health care reform so that more Americans can afford basic health care

3) Pass some legislation to actually help with the mortgage situation.

Doesn't anyone care at all about all the people who could lose their homes, or be unable to afford to pay for heat or food or gas to get to work or anything else.

Yeah, we need to restore the rule of law. But I think we should help Americans in danger of DYING from neglect first.

[Fumesucker]

7. I would be willing to wager a considerable sum..

That it will all be allowed to slide..

"For the good of the country" of course.

I've lived through this twice now and the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.


Glenn Greenwald made an excellent point the other day, this is all about "tribalism", the powerful and connected in DC are a "tribe" and tribes tend to stick together and look out for fellow members of the tribe. This is what telecom immunity is all about, protecting the tribe.

[KharmaTrain]

8. How About Fixing The Messes First

I'm all for pushing a more Progressive agenda and hopefully we're on the edge of such a new day, but don't try to ram things down both the party and the rest of the country.

The past 7 1/2 years of repugnican abuse is gonna take a while to sort out and clean up. Little priorities like trying to get our troops SAFELY out of Iraq, fixing a majorly screwed economy, cleaning out the Monica Goodlings hiding in virtually every government agency, helping the most vulnerable...the young, the elederly, the poor in trying to cope with the worst economy in the past 80 years. And that's just for starters...

We have no clue how many landmines the booosh regime will leave behind and only have a surface reading of all the corruption that's gone on...be assured the first couple months of an Obama administration will NOT be a honeymoon as all these skeltons come dancing and both the corporate media and the repugnicans do all they can to distort and complicate matters.

The best hopes for what you and many of us would like to see happen is in working with a stronger Democratic House & Senate...this is where laws can be drafted to roll back a lot of the booosh regime abuses, investigations can be conducted and new ideas and ideals can be moved along. Thus the need this year to help elect more and better Democrats.