Obama’s Empty Call for Reflection, Insult to Justice

(8 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

“This is a time for reflection, not retribution.”

This statement misleadingly substitutes the concept of retribution for accountability.  This statement, coming after seven years of brutal and illegal retribution for a heinous act, hypocritically calls for our crimes to be met with reflection only.  This statement implies that appropriate responses to war crimes are variable, dependent on time.  This statement calls for reflection, an impossibility in the face of unrelenting insistence that we not look back.   Finally, and most significantly, this phrase arrogantly implies the ability to choose when and if government officials are subject to the law of the land.

One thing I have always admired in President Obama is his skill in employing language to precisely articulate ideas which renew the resonance of our best liberal heritage.  His speech on race will be forever remembered for plainly acknowledging a painful, difficult past and a challenging present while calling forth the better parts of ourselves in the service of a colorblind future.  Even as some of his actions as President have dismayed, his meaningful words have always reassured that the decisions arise from a profound understanding of democracy and a motivation to serve all Americans.  Obama has brilliantly explicated the destructive effects of racial intolerance, ideological blindness, and partisan squabbling while prescribing and practicing the most promising ways to eliminate these drags on our collective psyche.  

For these reasons, President Obama’s manipulative and shallow speech on America’s war crimes felt like a surprising blow to the gut.  I spent the better part of the day attempting to unravel the dangerous confusions embodied in one phrase in particular:  “reflection, not retribution.”  The more time I spend with these words, the less I can avoid the conclusion that the slippery logic they embody is carefully calculated to marginalize lovers of justice.

This is a time for reflection, not retribution. I respect the strong views and emotions that these issues evoke. We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history. But at a time of great challenges and disturbing disunity, nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.

Do these words shed light on our present challenge?  Do they indicate the best way forward?  I say they confuse rather than enlighten.

Here is a request for the readers of this diary.  An administration of our country has been involved in crimes against humanity.  This is not about Obama.  I ask that we discuss our responsibilities to the world, to the law, and to our ideals irrespective of the implications either for Obama’s worthiness or for his political agenda.  I come neither to bury Obama nor to praise him.  I do not indulge gratuitous and hyperbolic condemnation, nor do I look for a savior.  I propose only to examine the accuracy and usefulness of his words yesterday on the issue of torture committed in our names.

This is a time for reflection, not retribution.

Some may be bloodthirsty for revenge.  Others may be interested only in the blame which Obama tells us will not help.  But what of the many U.S. and global citizens who hunger for justice?  We are the responsible critics, calling for reasonable accountability in accordance with well-established universal law.  President Obama either insults us by demeaning our motives or ignores us by offering no response to the call for accountability.  Retribution is whimsically visited by the powerful on the weak; justice is blind to power and unbiased by circumstance.

This is a time for reflection, not retribution.

The sleight of hand which insultingly replaces “justice” with “retribution” enables the most crucial confusion of all.  Change the words to, “This is a time for reflection, not justice,” and the logic of Obama’s rhetoric is laid bare.  The reasonable sounding appeal is based on an insupportable assumption that justice is not always appropriate.  An definitional element of justice is its universal application.  Justice that varies with the seasons is no justice at all.

This is a time for reflection, not retribution.

One can only imagine how different our world would look if we had adopted this attitude following the attacks of 9/11.  A few people attempted to point out some American actions which would shed light on the motivations of the terrorists.  Remember the reaction to Reverend Wright’s claim that the chickens had come home to roost?  All such people were self-righteously dismissed as blame-America-first traitors.  Such an atrocity–how could any patriot excuse it?  As a nation, we committed ourselves to retribution with unabashed vigor.

Now America has committed atrocities, and our president tells us the appropriate response is reflection free of accountability.  America’s self-centeredness has never been more ugly.  This is the behavior of the bully, who understands his position among others on the basis of an imbalance of power rather than mutually accepted codes of behavior.

This is a time for reflection, not retribution.

Reflection entails looking at the past with an openness to discovering something new.  In light of all of Obama’s previous words on this topic, the recommendation to reflect arises in a vacuum.  When speaking of prosecution of crimes against humanity, Obama invariably states his preference for looking forward rather than back.  He has been insistent on this point.  Likewise, he has stated the position of his administration with a certainty which discourages contemplation and a finality that implies the issue has been resolved.  Furthermore, this speech included unambiguous praise for every CIA member, including those whose behavior cries out for thoughtful examination.  Self-discovery is unlikely to flower in such an atmosphere.  Pep rallies are not conducive to reflection.  I am loathe to say this about Obama’s words, but I can only interpret the use of “reflection” as empty rhetoric.  I’ll stop short of calling it cynical.

This is a time for reflection, not retribution.

When the hidden meaning of this innocuous sounding sentence is examined, the high-sounding words fail to cover the bare meaning.  Our country does not intend to honor our obligations under international and domestic law.  Rather than investigate and bring to justice those who planned, ordered, and committed acts offensive to all civilized people, we propose to move forward with absolutely no accountability.  We presume to choose when accountability to the laws of nations is appropriate.  This behavior can only be counted as arrogant, exhibiting an abandonment of responsibility to other nations while presuming a special status which exempts us from the common demands of justice.  Beautiful words do not hide this ugly truth.

23 comments

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    • geomoo on April 17, 2009 at 13:02
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    I obsessed over this phrase all day.  The obsession has carried me til 4 a.m.  I posted here first, because I can leave it to get some sleep.  I’ll crosspost at dkos sometime tomorrow.

  1. up my confusion, and my grief. Reflection itself leads one to conclusions that require justice. At the least the legal avenues that allowed this should be closed. The war crimes should be acknowledged. As it stands now, this administration is obstructing justice and validating the abuse of these universal laws. It is good to read a post that does not place the cult of persona and politics above above the basic truths of what has occurred.

    Calling torture, enhanced interrogation, itself is disgusting. The politics involved have crossed a line, that makes a mockery of our democracy our legal system and our values. He used the same justifications that the Bushies use only he dressed them up in fancy words. Criminals and sadists do not ‘keep us safe. The words in the memos are unjustifiable and reflection on them makes me think we have lost our humanity. Our sacred documents, are based on principles that we no longer hold to be self evident. Thank you geomoo.          

  2. The law is not retribution!

    • Arctor on April 19, 2009 at 01:11

    seems more disturbed than he was at Bush’s constitutional excesses, then there’s something truly rotten in the state of Obama. The advisors that surround him, from the Fed and the Pentagon (Gates, Jim Jones, etc.,) when combined with his policy: double down in Afganhistan, permanent bases in Iraq, continued defense of wiretapping and now the fear to prosecute torture, indicate beyond words that Obama is behaving as a tool of the capitalist power structure.

  3. Jonathan Turley would be the choice for me.

    Geomoo,

    I noticed at the top where you anticipate “blowback” (whatever you want to call it) from this being cross-posted at DKOS.

    So what.

    You surely will have some that will see things in a different light also. Those are the ones that this matters most to maybe, & if you reach but a few with this well reasoned essay, then you`ve again proven what your sig line says about you & about what peace is.

    Please never be stifled against your principles.

    They are much too important ones.

    Great essay.

  4. Having been onto him from the beginning, I find little in any of his speeches that isn’t manipulative, shallow, dishonest, condescending, or some combination thereof.  I have never, not once, found anything in his always-empty rhetoric that may be attributed to anything other than just another Reagan-wannabe (Clinton was the same way).  By telling us that we can never look at the past, that we must respond to some of the worst horrors of the Bush-Cheney regime by sweeping their multitude of crimes under the rug, Obama has become complicit in those crimes – a willing accessory to them after the fact.

    We cannot solve a problem if we do not allow ourselves to recognize it.  Obama chose to do what he did, and excusing torture is only one link in a long chain of offenses committed by him.

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