True Left Iowa MEDIA SLICE 2/10/09

"Obama Backs Off A Reversal On Secrets"
by John Schwartz
- New York Times 2/10

"In a closely watched case involving rendition and torture, a lawyer for the Obama administration seemed to surprise a panel of federal judges on Monday by pressing ahead with an argument for preserving state secrets originally developed by the Bush administration."

The article later quoted ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero. "This is not change," he said. "This is definitely more of the same. Candidate Obama ran on a platform that would reform the abuse of state secrets, but President Obama's Justice Department has disappointingly reneged on that important civil liberties issue. If this is a harbinger of things to come, it will be a long and arduous road to give us back an America we can be proud of."

Of more than minor relevance is how many rank-and-file ACLU members -- to say nothing of board members -- doubtless voted for Obama and would again, despite this.

Principle apparently means nothing to Times columnist Bob Herbert. In what amounted to an early Valentine, in the same edition ("The Chess Master" 2/10), Herbert gushed of Obama, "He's smart, deft, elegant, and subtle."