The basic idea is that the drone war is slowly going to fade away, like the Iraqi War and the Afghan War. That is to say, fade away but not disappear. And Guantanamo will close as well—which, of course, does not mean that any of the innocent, abused inmates will actually be given their freedom any time soon, or, really, any time ever. We Democrats have to leave something for the Republicans to do, right?
The Republicans, naturally, are howling about surrender. No more war? That’s insane! What would we do without it?*
Well, hypocrisy is the grease of government. While the President talks of peace, his best bud Attorney General Eric Holder gets a search warrant on the grounds that being a reporter is a crime. Let’s hope that it proves politically feasible—and even profitable—for the president to lurch a step or two fitfully towards “the left” and even stay there for awhile.
*Half a kudo to John McCain for agreeing that Guantanamo should be closed, and two negative kudos for saying that the president’s statement that Al Qaeda has been largely defeated shows “a degree of unreality that to me is really incredible.” Let’s all please forget the fact that the Bush Administration lost all interest in Al Qaeda, except as a bogyman, as soon as they invaded Iraq.
