Why Barack Obama doesn't mud wrestle with his slime-slinging critics

[notgoinback]

We Democrats need to realize our leader is basically a dignified intellectual. He doesn't swagger around with a chip on his shoulder, daring others to knock it off. Unlike Bill Clinton ( smart, gregarious and eager to compromise ) or George W. ( immature, self-indulgent and bored by details ) Barack Obama makes decisions the academic way. He reads and gathers facts. He confers with experts and evaluates conflicting opinions. Then he reaches a conclusion based upon what makes sense to him.
Some liberals are still bitter because he didn't begin his first term by launching a rigorous investigation of the entire Bush Administration. Why was that elephant-sized bag of dirty tricks never opened? Because it was an undertaking so legally complex and politically volatile, the Congressional hearing process could have lasted until 2012. Imagine flocks of $1000-a-hour lawyers descending on the Capitol Building. Think of the fortune GOP "fat cats" might spend, trying to derail another "Watergate" scandal - involving yet another Republican president. With a majority of Supreme Court Justices as allies, neither George Bush nor Dick Cheney were likely to be found guilty of any wrongdoing at all.
As for "cyber-spying" issue, Obama probably wishes he could frankly explain how a former Constitutional Law professor can condone this flagrant violation of America's privacy laws. The truth is, our vast, sprawling country lies between two massive oceans, and has a land/maritime border of more than 90,000 miles. It is impossible to stop foreigners ( including terrorists ) from easily entering the U.S. and remaining indefinitely. I sympathize with the desperately poor Central and South Americans who flee a brutal, hopeless existence. I'd do the same thing, rather than allow my children to go hungry. But, if 12 million undocumented people can survive here without being detected and deported, our "national security" can hardly be called secure. Obviously, the FBI, the CIA, the INS and other federal agencies presented Obama with significant, credible evidence that monitoring telephone conversations for "key words" was at least a partially effective method of identifying sinister individuals already residing among us.
Even though I can't support the GSA's invasive tactics, I feel certain Obama's first priority was protecting his fellow citizens from deadly acts of violence. For that, I thank him!

[freshwest]

1. Thanks for explaining that so well.

[treestar]

2. With that I agree

He said he would not tolerate attacks on US with the underwear bomber. I think he prefers NSA date gathering to the possibility of terror attacks on the US. Unlike Bush who talked a lot, but ultimately found 911 convenient as it gave them an excuse for everything they wanted to do. They didn't care that 3000 Americans died. They only cared that it gave them a reason to demand more power. Whereas Obama just won't have it that 3000 Americans or anybody might die.

[IrishAyes]

3. One of the best pieces I've read in a long time,

although there are many on DU. Welcome, and please do stick around. We need more such thinkers among us!