Obama's Credibility Is on the Line
Published in der Tagesspiegel
(Germany) on 12 August 2013
by Stephan-Andreas Casdorff (link to
original)
The president has responded to criticism of the National Security Agency’s activities. When it comes to civil rights, Obama has become very vulnerable these days. In that respect, it's hard to tell him apart from his predecessor, George W. Bush.
One bit of reassurance has emerged from the NSA affair: Criticism, when voiced, can pay off. President Obama's reaction is proof of that. His four-point plan addresses personal privacy — at least by American standards — and is also a concession. It's surely due to national disapproval, for one thing, and it's especially a concession to the Democrats in Congress. It's also due to international criticism, especially from Germany.
This nation in the heartland of Europe is far too important to aggravate by reviving new and old resentments. And, last but not least, Germany has been extremely important to the healing of the American economy. President Obama will have already coolly calculated that because that's how he operates. There is no chance that he has an emotional attachment to Europe such as previously existed between the U.S. and Europe.
The NSA Affair: Obama Promises More Transparency
Another thing he has to consider is the ever-increasing importance of the legacy he leaves behind as president of the U.S. Most of what Obama undertakes has to do with greatness — or at least the appearance thereof — whether it be a rather mundane photo similar to the one of Bobby Kennedy on the beach with his dog or an upcoming photo of Obama standing on the same steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King stood back in 1963. In order for that not to seem overly presumptuous, Obama can't afford to be seen as trampling civil rights underfoot: The privacy of personal data as well as freedom from governmental spying definitely count as civil rights. Bobby Kennedy would have defended both those concepts, as his speeches made abundantly clear.
This president is vulnerable on a number of fronts. Obama seems to be no improvement over George W. Bush — something no one would have ever predicted. A dispassionate inventory shows that the U.S. holds prisoners under highly questionable conditions at Guantanamo, snoops the Internet with no inhibitions and wages an unmanned drone war in which people are executed without benefit of arraignment, legal defense or a judge's sentence. In Pakistan alone Obama has so far ordered 318 attacks, killing 2,548 victims.
When it comes to the expectations and the realities of Obama's administration, the fact is that more whistle-blowers are being persecuted than ever before — and with more energy. They are pursued with more energy than the nation expends on real wrongdoers. In Washington, journalists are circulating the word that it's worse now than during the Nixon administration.
This is also an international problem, insofar as Obama has just begun dealings with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, whom he rightly accuses of committing civil rights abuses of his own. Overly hard rhetoric and too inflexible a position would be risky for Obama because Putin is unlikely to shy away from a global disagreement, particularly because he is intimately familiar with the ways of agitation and propaganda. That and the fact that his power is secure for the remainder of his term.
In contrast, Obama must consider the danger of prematurely becoming a lame duck due to objectionable behavior.
One bit of reassurance has emerged from the NSA affair: Criticism, when voiced, can pay off. President Obama's reaction is proof of that. His four-point plan addresses personal privacy — at least by American standards — and is also a concession. It's surely due to national disapproval, for one thing, and it's especially a concession to the Democrats in Congress. It's also due to international criticism, especially from Germany.
This nation in the heartland of Europe is far too important to aggravate by reviving new and old resentments. And, last but not least, Germany has been extremely important to the healing of the American economy. President Obama will have already coolly calculated that because that's how he operates. There is no chance that he has an emotional attachment to Europe such as previously existed between the U.S. and Europe.
The NSA Affair: Obama Promises More Transparency
Another thing he has to consider is the ever-increasing importance of the legacy he leaves behind as president of the U.S. Most of what Obama undertakes has to do with greatness — or at least the appearance thereof — whether it be a rather mundane photo similar to the one of Bobby Kennedy on the beach with his dog or an upcoming photo of Obama standing on the same steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King stood back in 1963. In order for that not to seem overly presumptuous, Obama can't afford to be seen as trampling civil rights underfoot: The privacy of personal data as well as freedom from governmental spying definitely count as civil rights. Bobby Kennedy would have defended both those concepts, as his speeches made abundantly clear.
This president is vulnerable on a number of fronts. Obama seems to be no improvement over George W. Bush — something no one would have ever predicted. A dispassionate inventory shows that the U.S. holds prisoners under highly questionable conditions at Guantanamo, snoops the Internet with no inhibitions and wages an unmanned drone war in which people are executed without benefit of arraignment, legal defense or a judge's sentence. In Pakistan alone Obama has so far ordered 318 attacks, killing 2,548 victims.
When it comes to the expectations and the realities of Obama's administration, the fact is that more whistle-blowers are being persecuted than ever before — and with more energy. They are pursued with more energy than the nation expends on real wrongdoers. In Washington, journalists are circulating the word that it's worse now than during the Nixon administration.
This is also an international problem, insofar as Obama has just begun dealings with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, whom he rightly accuses of committing civil rights abuses of his own. Overly hard rhetoric and too inflexible a position would be risky for Obama because Putin is unlikely to shy away from a global disagreement, particularly because he is intimately familiar with the ways of agitation and propaganda. That and the fact that his power is secure for the remainder of his term.
In contrast, Obama must consider the danger of prematurely becoming a lame duck due to objectionable behavior.