Do Obama Reversals Vindicate Bush Policies?

Reality has a way of presenting and in many respects it can be argued that the Obama Administration’s reversals on counter-terrorism actually vindicate many of the policies President Bush set into motion.

Given how abrasive The New York Times has been in its criticism of the former president’s post 9/11 initiatives, it is certainly appropriate to ask why Obama now grudgingly concedes the necessity of these actions at least in deeds, if not in rhetoric.

After pushing hard for trying the 9/11 terrorists in New York City, The White House is now backpedaling away from what was obviously unworkable decision replete with security risks and enormous expenses. The Times covers the basics here in a Jan. 29 piece quotes local and state officials who opposed trying the terrorists in NYC.

The reporter also deserves credit for pointing out that it is mostly Obama’s own Democrats who have turned against the plan. But there’s much larger issue at work here and one wonders how the paper would have treated President Bush if had made such an abrupt shift away from an obviously flawed decision.

Attempted terrorist attacks have apparently jolted officials who were previously supportive, the Times surmised.

“The story of how prominent New York officials seemed to have so quickly moved from a kind of “bring it on” bravado to an “anywhere but here” involves many factors, including a new anxiety about terrorism after the attempted airliner bombing on Christmas Day,” the article suggests.

To be sure, there is some validity to this but there is another story here about reversals that date back to the earliest days of the administration. In April 2009, Obama announced he would not appeal a federal court decision ordering the government to release photographs of terrorist interrogations. This occurred in tandem with other another decision to release documentation that Bush Justice Department had prepared on this very subject.

Obama has also angered his base by keeping Guantanamo Bay prison open, by surging more troops into Afghanistan and  by way of the continued military presence in Iraq, where the surge policies have been enormously successful. The president’s capitulation on the 9/11 trial is just one small part of a trend that has been work almost right from the beginning and it should be reported.

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