Open Gates

GQ: The Wire Q&A: Scott Horton on the CIA’s Secret Drone War

GQ Has Obama done anything to scale back the power of the executive, in your opinion?

SH He inherited a presidency of unprecedented power, especially in the national security area, and he has shown no real compunction to surrender any of that power. Sure, he’s said no torture, no black sites, no extraordinary renditions-but even on that, he dropped a footnote and said I’m not saying renditions are bad, just extraordinary renditions. These are quite surgical modifications. The bigger machine is still operating the way it was in the past. There was a hope that he would gradually begin this process of bringing things back to somewhat more balance. But that’s really not happening. We see a president who is unwilling to give up any prerogative. To the contrary, I’m sure he feels that he’s in a position to use that power for the good, so why should he give it up.

May be cliché, but ‘Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.’