When President Obama was a candidate he promised transparency in his administration, not Bush's administration.

I believe he takes the position ultimately that that was then, this is now, and he wants to move forward and ensure that his administration does not torture and abuse prisoners. He doesn't want to go digging through the Bush years and put the country through endless hearings, lawsuits, investigations, depositions, blue ribbon panels and all that. He wants to wipe the slate clean and start out fresh.

Why? For the most part it would be the worst thing for his presidency. It would distract from his economic plans, create deep partisan conflict and intra-party conflict as Democrats are also called out onto the carpet. This kind of investigation with its drama could take over his presidency and derail everything he's trying to accomplish.

He made a strategic decision, a trade-off. He wants to be the Change President, not a presider over the Torture Show. It's basically fix the economy and work on healthcare, or prosecute Bush administration creeps who won't actually do any time any way.

oh please...no one is interested in the sanity and reason of what you are saying, far better to have a big old raging partisan freak show, so everyone can spew anger at one another and neglect the actual issues at hand...bread and circuses, my friend.

Far better to deal with yet another horrific and egregious denial of human rights that America is so good at ignoring when it is in the wrong.

Without some cleansing. An undebrided wound just becomes infected. Whether President Obama lets Ray Odierno push him around, I can't do much about. I can only hope the Congress takes the lead of Sheldon Whitehouse and Pat Leahy and at least pushes far enough to force Cheney, if he's going to keep running this lies and excuses tour, to go before the committee and be sworn in.

What I'm saying is that Obama doesn't want to really cleanse that wound. He wants to hide it, stuff it, so that the whole process doesn't take over his presidency.

He's making a cynical decision, but one I think he feels he needs to make.

That may be true, he feels he has to make it...in no small part because Odierno is trying to scare the bejeebers out of him with worst case scenarios. It doesn't make the 180 deg. by him or by Gates very palatable to me, a big supporter of both guys. I have to hope it's the wiser choice and that justice is somehow still dished out, despite the President's feet of clay on this, to the cabal that gave us this cluster-fuck. Cheney made sure he implicated Bush last Sunday, which means he knows he's up against it, imo. It may end up as just another white-wash committee like the one that gave Ollie immunity and glossed over much, and I won't see the sneering Cheney in leg-irons, but the country at least deserves to watch him sit under oath in some venue and take questions from representatives of the citizens. I prefer a jury, but I'll settle for a committee, I guess.

I'd sure like to see Cheney sweating and snarling under a hot lamp, having to deflect questions about the torture program with absurd, logic-defying claims.

You're a kind man. I admit I'd like to see him keel over clutching his chest right after some egregious lie to one of his Fox acolytes. That would be one for the folks who think God sent Katrina and punished us on 9-11 for gays. What would they make of it?

This is chess, not checkers.

Right now, 80% of the country applauds Obama for his middle course - releasing memos and not releasing photos.

The witholding photos is seen as "protecting troops", and the issue is last years business... so most of the country is quite happy with Obama and pissed at the republicans.

However, the mind of the average American is a pretty dark place, and I'm sure most of us imagine far worse images than what we'd actually find if those photos are released... So Obama is doing more damage to the GOP by NOT releasing the photos than he would do by releasing them.

Furthermore, in this case the Obama administration is taking a hawk position siding with the republicans against the extreme left "bleeding heart" pacifists... So he's getting moderate republican sympathy, while doing more damage to the republicans, while looking like a pragmatist that isn't playing politics.

For republicans, this shiny toy has spikes... and they're dumb enough to play with it anyway - no matter how much it makes them bleed.

The Obama administration was given a gift in the stupid evil of the Bush administration's torture program... and Obama is milking it for all the political capital he can get. And he's smarter than either of us at how he's playing this.

:)

Well, there's no doubt he's doing the best for himself at this moment by not releasing the photos. He's also doing it because it might prompt more people to launch that investigation he wants to avoid.

That's congress's domain, and they will have their pound of flesh.

They deserve it...

But that investigation will only help both Obama and the democrats, and further hurt the republicans... It would be better, however, if Obama is seen as reluctant rather than vindictive.

Besides, it's better if the investigation put people on trial NEXT YEAR, near the 2010 elections.

:)

But whichever of us is right, this has all helped team Obama thus far. He's still got over 60% approval rate, and that's not going down quickly - despite the worsening economy.

(don't get me wrong, I'm not stupid enough to believe that the economy is Obama's fault. Macroeconomics suggests that the portion of the economy that government can influence will take months to have any impact at all, and most of the policies will take nearly a year... but normally the GOP would be scoring points off the bad economy, and now they aren't because they're too busy defending recreational torture).

I am more encouraged by your cynical view than anything I've read here today. Trials closer to 2010, without Obama taking the heat for them, and the economy starting a real tangible recovery around the same time...

Dang, I'm going to leave the computer and join Lebowski for a White Russian beverage to celebrate my lifted mood.

Let's just hope my cynicism is correct.

:)

Good points.

I think he's seeing many Bush policies as wise now that he's got advisors and the insider details, but your points are in play as well.