Legal Commentary

Leadership

By Big Tent Democrat

Glenn Greenwald and Matt Yglesias have a curious exchange (see Kevin Drum for the weirdness of the dispute) about President Obama and civil liberties. For the full argument, click the links, but I found these two quotes to be the key takeaways. Yglesias wrote:

"This is what I think: If public opinion were friendly to civil liberties, then public policy in the Obama era would be friendlier to civil liberties than it currently is."

I say duh. Obama is a pol. And they do what they do. I think the actual issue is identified in this from Yglesias:

[P]eople who want to halt the erosion of civil liberties need to do a better job of persuading people that the erosion of civil liberties would be a bad thing.

The question is, is Obama one of those "people?" And if so, why is he not doing more? Yglesias, like me, is cynical about politicians, and expects nothing from Obama on this. I do not see this as excusing Obama, but being realistic about him, and every pol. That is why a true progressive flank can never accept a role as cheerleader for any pol. Glenn chooses to criticize Obama. Me? I criticize the supposed progressive flank for being unthinking Obama cheerleaders. (NOTE: I have strong disagreements with Greenwald on certain civil liberties issues and find myself defending the position the Obama Administration has taken that Glenn disagrees with. But I make no pretense to being part of the progressive flank on civil liberties.)

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 18, 2010 (boomark / email).