Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Biggest O Disappointment

I have made excuses for the past few years for the various disappointments of the Obama Administration.  Afghanistan is hard, there are no good choices.  His domestic policies are restricted by a Congress that is divided, that the Republicans want him to fail more than the country succeed.

But, damn, I am just fed up with the Justice Department under Obama.  It is really hard to tell that there is a Democratic President and one that is different from the power-sucking maw of the Bush Administration.  Americans are being jailed due to suspicion of being illegal immigrants.   Not just by Arizona and Alabama but due to the Justice dept and the Obama Administration.  

This is not the first time that Justice under Attorney General Holder has maintained or expanded Bush era policies that would seem to be anathema to much of what candidate Obama stood for, but it is largely true that any President is going to resist giving up powers that a previous President accumulated.  And, of course, Obama lives in fear of being accused of being weak on crime, immigration and all the rest.  But I am appalled.

Only a glimmer of good news, and way too late: Holder may start considering state laws that restrict voter fraud as violations of national laws about voter access.  Yeah, Holder is finally getting around to invoking ye olde Voting Rights Act:
The act enables the civil rights division to object to election laws and practices on the grounds that they would disproportionately deter minority groups from voting — even if there is no evidence of discriminatory intent — and to go to court to block states from putting the laws in place. 
About @#$$%#$% time.  I should not be stunned, but I guess I still am that the Republicans have been able to trump up the non-existent problem of voter fraud in order to deny the right to vote to many communities that tend to vote Democratic (that would be minorities).  This is old news, but you would think that the Democrats would make up for the mistakes in Florida, Ohio and elsewhere in 2000, 2004 and beyond that are not only very, very wrong but also happen to threaten the chances for the Democrats to win elections.  What an entirely spineless party.  

1 comment:

Steve Greene said...

I'm with you. The failure of the DOJ to pursue Wall Street malfeasance is also disappointing.