Obama’s OLC nominee: ‘We must regain our ability to feel outrage whenever our government acts lawlessly.’
Obama’s OLC nominee: ‘We must regain our ability to feel outrage whenever our government acts lawlessly.’
President-elect Barack Obama announced today that Dawn Johnsen will serve as the next Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). Salon’s Glenn Greenwald calls the pick “Obama’s best yet, perhaps by far.” As evidence, Greenwald highlights an article in Slate that Johnsen authored last year, in which she excoriated John Yoo’s infamous torture memo:
I want to second Dahlia’s frustration with those who don’t see the newly released Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) torture memo as a big deal. Where is the outrage, the public outcry?! The shockingly flawed content of this memo, the deficient processes that led to its issuance, the horrific acts it encouraged, the fact that it was kept secret for years and that the Bush administration continues to withhold other memos like it — all demand our outrage.
Yes, we’ve seen much of it before. And yes, we are counting down the remaining months. But we must regain our ability to feel outrage whenever our government acts lawlessly and devises bogus constitutional arguments for outlandishly expansive presidential power. Otherwise, our own deep cynicism, about the possibility for a President and presidential lawyers to respect legal constraints, itself will threaten the rule of law — and not just for the remaining nine months of this administration, but for years and administrations to come.
Johnsen also criticized the Democratic Congress for legalizing Bush’s surveillance program. She also wrote passionately about restoring our “nation’s honor” by condemning “our nation’s past transgressions” and rejecting “Bush’s corruption of our American ideals.”
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30 Responses to “Obama’s OLC nominee: ‘We must regain our ability to feel outrage whenever our government acts lawlessly.’”
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Most Republicans are already outraged at the lawless acts of the Obama administration.
January 5th, 2009 at 1:05 pmI can't remember the last time I heard a government official talk like that. I think she should run for President of the United States.
January 5th, 2009 at 1:06 pmTypo alert: "...Johnsen authored last year, in which [s]he excoriated..."
January 5th, 2009 at 1:09 pmBut than was when the repubs were in charge. I wonder if she'll change her mind now the dems have control?
January 5th, 2009 at 1:10 pmI like the way Johnsen thinks!!! Well done, Obama!
January 5th, 2009 at 1:11 pmWow! she has a beauitful mind.I firmly agree it's Obama's best pick so far.
January 5th, 2009 at 1:13 pmThat's why we need Supreme Court judgements and Bush administration prosecutions.
Outrage isn't nearly enough.
January 5th, 2009 at 1:16 pmIn order for this nation to "put the past behind us" (as the Republicans so desperately want us to do), we have to know what happened, and we have to feel those who broke the law will be punished. If we just ignore it all and pretend it doesn't matter any more, then that will be the end of our constitutional form of government. And without our constitution, there is no United States of America.
Dick Cheney is already going around saying that if Bush wasn't impeached, then he must not have done anything illegal. This kind of thinking needs to be stopped immediately, and a lifetime prison sentence should do the trick.
January 5th, 2009 at 1:18 pmWhere is the outrage, the public outcry?! The shockingly flawed content of this memo, the deficient processes that led to its issuance, the horrific acts it encouraged, the fact that it was kept secret for years and that the Bush administration continues to withhold other memos like it — all demand our outrage.
of course...
if only the public had been fully informed...
it's never too late, i guess... i hope.
January 5th, 2009 at 1:32 pmThe shockingly flawed content of this memo, the deficient processes that led to its issuance, the horrific acts it encouraged, the fact that it was kept secret for years and that the Bush administration continues to withhold other memos like it — all demand our outrage.
Outrage is no substitute for prosecution...
she won't prosecute Busheviks...
Screw "outrage"
January 5th, 2009 at 1:33 pmObama’s OLC nominee: ‘We must regain our ability to feel outrage whenever our government acts lawlessly.’»
Funny, I never lost mine...
January 5th, 2009 at 1:36 pmWhat a breath of fresh air. Hopefully Johnsen will be very busy for a while holding the criminals of the Bush administration accountable. Geeze, there is that word accountable again. It hasn't been used much the last 8 years.
January 5th, 2009 at 1:36 pmYou mean the way the republicans suddenly want to crack down on corruption, excess spending and now want an open government? Like that?
January 5th, 2009 at 1:36 pmAWWWWWWWWWWWWWW......YEAH LET'S TALK ABOUT OUR FEELINGS.
HOW ABOUT ACTIONS? WHEN I AM GOING TO HEAR SOMETHING ABOUT THAT?
January 5th, 2009 at 1:49 pmAt the risk of sounding partisan, I think the left is in relatively good shape here.
When Democrats go bad, the progressive community are among the harshest critics of the accused. We have seen this in spades just recently. If liberals could ever form a lynch mob, it would be when one of their own transgresses.
The Repubs, by contrast, would cast a kind eye on Satan if he were one of their candidates or peers. They reserve all of their outrage for false accusations against Democrats--most especially after they have suffered such humiliating falure and defeat.
Visit beautiful Wingnutania:
January 5th, 2009 at 1:57 pmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVPy-ejcbjM
That rush of fresh breeze we keep feeling is the breath of fresh air provided to us and our constitution on November 4 when we the people put an adult in charge again. Whew.
January 5th, 2009 at 2:02 pmJohnsen also criticized the Democratic Congress for legalizing Bush’s surveillance program.
Lest we forget: Just because Congress passes a law, that doesn't make it LEGAL. This surveillance program is AGAINST THE FOURTH AMENDMENT, and will be found to be so by some court in the near future.
If we're lucky.
January 5th, 2009 at 2:02 pmtokin librul Says:
The shockingly flawed content of this memo, the deficient processes that led to its issuance, the horrific acts it encouraged, the fact that it was kept secret for years and that the Bush administration continues to withhold other memos like it — all demand our outrage.
Outrage is no substitute for prosecution…
she won’t prosecute Busheviks…
Screw “outrage”
You need to recalibrate that Obamawhacker.
It's stuck on cynic, and no amount of apparently positive information has any effect.
January 5th, 2009 at 2:11 pmbarfly Says:
It’s stuck on cynic, and no amount of apparently positive information has any effect.
I think if we saw some prosecutorial action, then a lot of the stuff that the electorate has cynically buried will rise to the surface again. I think that most people have lost their sense of outrage because they could see no purpose for it to serve - no amount of public outcry has seemed to harm or even shame the criminal Bush administration. But it's still festering below the surfact of the national psyche. Just one significant conviction, impeachment, whatever, would raise a huge outcry for more.
January 5th, 2009 at 2:26 pmAs far as I am concerned, this whole acceptance of lawlessness of an administration began when Ford pardoned Nixon. We saw a repeat during Reagan's presidency with the Iran-Contra affair. Pelosi and Reid's refusal to begin the impeachment for Cheney and Bush in 2006 furthered the shame for this country, and the continuation of the destruction of this country. Enough is enough!!
January 5th, 2009 at 2:44 pmO.J. was found not guilty. It doesn't mean he didn't commit the crime.
That same thinking enables Cheney and crew to act with impunity unless prosecutions and action start getting exchanged for the "outrage"
And I still feel the same about Pelosi, no apologies.
January 5th, 2009 at 3:16 pmIt’s stuck on cynic, and no amount of apparently positive information has any effect.
January 5th, 2009 at 3:24 pmJanuary 5th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Bertrand Russell noted that capacity for close observation and coherent interpretation is often regarded as cynicism by people who possess neither...
Bertrand Russell noted that capacity for close observation and coherent interpretation is often regarded as cynicism by people who possess neither…
And sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...
January 5th, 2009 at 3:31 pmBertrand Russell noted that capacity for close observation and coherent interpretation is often regarded as cynicism by people who possess neither…
Didn't he pen a book (pricipia mathmatica), which took hundreds of pages to conclude that 1+1=2?
Too close, and "observers" risk myopia.
January 5th, 2009 at 3:36 pmThe real question is whether this lady will do what Obama seems not to want. To investigate and prosecute those who broke the law. That includes Bush, Cheney and anyone else.
From what I can see, the Democrats want to avoid confrontation. Which is usual for them. This is probably why they are such losers, politically speaking. They have gone against their core. The thing that always set the Democrats apart from Republicans. If they do not do what the Constitution and most of the American public want, namely prosecution, they will be no different from Republicans.
How much this woman can or will do, remains to be seen. I am fast losing hope that anything will be done. A committe to do a very slow investigation, to run the clock out. A committe
January 5th, 2009 at 3:39 pmto pretend to look into crimes. A committe to investigate the ones lower down, leaving the real criminals alone. A public show. Nothing would surprise me.
Excellent choice by Obama!
January 5th, 2009 at 4:04 pmi AM outraged. In fact I am downright p*ssed off. I cant wait to get back calling things what they are, like patriot act should actually be called "the final nail in the coffin of regular americans abilities to collude and revolt against an unjust ruling class as written into our constitution." Or the no child left behind act, yeah thats doing well not leaving anyone behind.
But what does an average schlock like me do, I dont have the charisma/courage to get anyone to follow me? All I can do is complain.
January 5th, 2009 at 4:13 pmJohnsen is so right, that is the largest problem with America, letting these RepubliCon crooks get away with it.
January 5th, 2009 at 7:29 pmcurious Says:
The real question is whether this lady will do what Obama seems not to want. To investigate and prosecute those who broke the law...
That's not the OLC's job. The OLC are the ones who provide memos to the White House saying what the DoJ would consider to be legal and what wouldn't be, of a set of hypothetical options under consideration. It's the key office that BushCo have politicized and then used to claim that their crimes were legal.
The fact that Obama's putting someone there who won't let him get away with similar crimes is positive all around.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:45 pmHoward Zinn on “War and Social Justice”
January 02, 2009
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/2/placeholder_howard_zinn
"You know, patriotism is not a matter of wearing a flag in your lapel, not a matter of this or not—patriotism is not supporting the government. Patriotism is supporting the principles that the government is supposed to stand for.”
January 5th, 2009 at 9:41 pm