President Barack Obama said on Wednesday the U.S. government was paying too much for things it did not need and ordered a crackdown on spending “plagued by massive cost overruns and outright fraud.”
The Democrat, under fire from Republicans for the $3.5 trillion price tag for his 2010 budget plan, also took aim at predecessor George W. Bush and noted the cost of government contracts had doubled to more than half a trillion dollars over the past eight years.
“The days of giving defense contractors a blank check are over,” Obama told reporters in a briefing on his reforms.
“Far too often spending is plagued by massive cost overruns, outright fraud and the absence of oversight and accountability,” said Obama, who campaigned on promises of sweeping change and greater accountability in Washington.
There has been plenty of controversy on the issue of conducting a Congressional or independent investigation into the interrogations policy and torture activities of the Bush administration over the last seven or eight years.
One of the primary worries by those who oppose a “truth and reconciliation”-style investigation is that it would preempt possible prosecutions, or at worst, be a cover-up of some of the worst crimes involved. Those who favor such an investigation believe that is only with a broad investigation will all the information really be unearthed.
The hearing today by the Senate Judiciary Committee — “Getting to the Truth Through a Nonpartisan Commission of Inquiry” — chaired by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), was called to explore options for investigating past torture and counter-terrorism policy. The committee called six witnesses, some for, some against such an investigation. But a close look at the backgrounds and affiliations of even most of the pro-investigation witnesses should give us deep pause, and ask what kind of commission are we being set up for?
It’s pretty well accepted that to participate on the grand stage in the 21st century (and this was obviously true of the 20th century as well) requires a media strategy and that the major players will, of course, have competing media strategies that seek to further their own goals and impede those of their ideological opponents.
It’s interesting to consider two recent multi-day stories in this light.
First off, just this afternoon, over at Talking Points Memo, I saw what is evidently a new development in the the whole “Rush Limbaugh is the leader of the Republican Party” imbroglio.
Just to backtrack a little – it’s certainly been interesting to watch the whole Michael Steele/Rush Limbaugh fiasco especially in light of the power that Limbaugh unquestionably holds in the party. Back at the end of January President Obama reportedly told Republican congressional leaders “You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done.”
Imagine vice presidents, Board of Directors, and stock holders all cashing in on denying you benefits while collecting your premiums. If you are uninsured, try calling any one of the 23 CEOs listed below and see if they will give you free insurance.
Okay, let’s talk Solar Power for a little bit. The Dog knows what immediately jumps to your mind, huge, flat black panels atop the house of that local hippie couple, that either generate enough electricity to run a 12 inch black and white TV, or barely give you enough hot water for a single shower.
“The days of giving defense contractors a blank check are over,” Mr. Obama said. “We need more competition for contracts and more oversight as they are carried out.”
The Washington Post adds Obama introduces reforms for government contracts. Obama ordered the Office of Management and Budget to have “tough new guidelines” on contracting in place by the end of September. The new guidelines will eliminate no-bid contracts.
“Over the last eight years, government spending on contracts has doubled to over half a trillion dollars,” Obama said today. “Far too often, the spending is plagued by massive cost overruns, outright fraud and the absence of oversight and accountability. . . . We are spending money on things that we don’t need, and we are paying more than we need to pay, and that’s completely unacceptable.”
Four at Four continues with Afghanistan, military contractors, and asylum seekers from Mexico.
To contradict the Firesign Theatre, everything we knew…..was right.
George Bush DID give himself dictatorial powers. And Congress let him. John Cornyn at the Leahy Torture Commission today said that Congress should be given credit for oversight. I can’t even give them credit for sight.
With the crimes that were committed….and those that could have been committed….under these memos, what we have is a massive house of cards. Now, one by one, as evidence emerges piece by piece, those cards are being pulled out from under the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress. As well as the Democrats who let the Republicans buffalo them…as a President gave himself secret dictatorial powers.
The Bush Crimes and attempted usurpation of the Constitution were committed under a shroud of secrecy. The Bush corruption of the Department of Justice made that shroud impenetrable.
But let it never be forgotten that the Speech or Debate Clause existed during those eight years. If there has ever been a time in our history when an opposition party should have put everything on the line to expose what they knew, this was it. And they didn’t.
Now, they have to fix this. They have power now, almost unlimited power, as (ironically) many of the gross excesses of the Unitary Executive/dictatorial powers are still in place.
This cannot stand.
Barack Obama and the Democratic controlled Congress MUST investigate fully and expose exactly how this was allowed to happen, but most importantly, they must find a way to FIX the system that allowed a president to become a dictator by his own fiat. Or it will surely happen again. Investigate and reform Executive Branch Powers, investigate and reform the Department of Justice.
Clean house.
From the Congressional oath of office: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;”
A domestic enemy assaulted the Constitution, that is clear now. What is not clear is what will be done about it. In light of the vast scope of the corruption of democracy itself, I have to say that Senator Leahy’s truth commission is needed. Only a vehicle of immensely broad scope, as opposed to the relatively narrow scope of prosecutions, can address something so vast. No single case or even congregation of cases will ever truly capture what happened…and what could have happened.
While prosecution of these domestic enemies must take place, the scale of what happened to corrupt our very form of government is not and never will be fully prosecutable. It goes beyond that. Well beyond. And the American people must be made to know what occurred, how deep and wide the threat to democracy itself truly was. The Constitution was assaulted, democracy was assaulted, We The People were assaulted.
What occurred in this country is well beyond politics, and perhaps even beyond the Law itself. It is so momentous that at this time, it cannot even be comprehended. But comprehended it must be.
Now we have to figure out how, next we have to figure out what to do about it.
One of my relatives on the other side of the political spectrum forwarded an email to me from a group called the American Family Association (why oh why do these folks have to usurp such a nice concept like “family” and twist it into indecipherable political contortions?). Seems that they’re trying to do a writing campaign to the White House to force President Obama to backtrack on his rescinding the Bush administration’s rule that would allow doctors or hospitals to deny people health care if their religion trumped the need of the person standing in front of them asking for help.
