Two pieces of today's news are certainly prompters of mixed feelings. First up is word that Obama is continuing the CIA practice of rendition. This is certainly a matter that requires a grasp of subtlety–there is rendition, then there's "extraordinary rendition," the former apparently involving taking prisoners to countries which do not torture, the latter involving places in which torture is second in popularity only to the World Cup. Bush, of course, employed the latter.
The question all this brings about is not whether rendition is itself wrong–I think few people would argue that it's wrong when not involving torture–but whether even a well-intentioned officeholder can be trusted to not abuse the practice. Simply trusting the government and/or the president has long been anathema to Libertarians and the Far Right, and these days it's also a hallmark of many an anti-Bush liberal, including this one. The temptation of abusing power when it is not subject to oversight is just too great. Seems like we should mostly all be able to agree on that.
Here's a very good discussion of the details of rendition and what Obama has apparently reserved the right to do. Seems–key word there–like Obama is trying to do a good thing, and has expressly said the practice will take place only within the Convention Against Torture. I hope that's true. And I'm not about to assume it is–no matter who's in the White House, oversight and openness are our only checks, and they should be employed rather than abdicated, as was the case far too often under Bush. (Something tells me that conservatives are in the midst of a come-to-Jesus moment about oversight, now that it doesn't involve the frat boy.) It's a good test of how Obama will address the matters that have tainted our reputation so miserably.
Secondly, we have the Curious Case of Bible Spice. Rasmussen:
"Coming off a shellacking at the polls in November, the plurality of GOP voters (43%) say their party has been too moderate over the past eight years, and 55% think it should become more like Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in the future, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey."
To which I can only say: Are you people out of your minds?
The Thrilla from Wasilla was an enormous part of McCain's nosedive. Still, I'm conflicted. Every moment of watching Palin's self-destruction was terrifying. To think that the only officeholder in the nation who's considerably more ignorant than Bush was within spitting distance of the vice presidency is enough to occasion smelling salts. Yet it was like the best/worst reality show ever devised. It was immensely entertaining to watch as her foot was inserted into her mouth so severely that she eventually swallowed herself whole like some bad cartoon.
What does this say for Republicans? It seems a likely indicator that the lightweight Republicans have boiled off, leaving a concentrated swill of pot liquor behind, the opposite of the creme de la creme. And if that's so, it may take 40 years of wandering the wilderness before we see Republicans in power again.
And that's cool, in the words of Jeffrey Lebowski.
