On Obama's fear of a coup

According to a scary and eye-popping article, Obama Team Feared Coup If He Prosecuted War Crimes,

President-Elect Obama’s advisers feared in 2008 that authorities would oust him in a coup and that Republicans would block his policy agenda if he prosecuted Bush-era war crimes, according to a law school dean who served as one of Obama’s top transition advisers.

The US is being held hostage by criminal extremists: a coalition of the military-industrial complex, the Republican Party, the super-rich, and the Religious Right (which provides a veneer of godliness).  The Rule of Law is suppressed. Torture and immoral wars go unpunished.  Corruption, injustice, and mismanagement are rampant.  Privitization, deregulation, and tax cuts are enriching the rich and forcing states to slash programs.  The New Deal is under attack.

So we needed a leader who would fight back against the right wing. Instead, what we got was an appeaser. Or a wimp. Or a centrist.

As article author Andrew Kreig pointed out, the Republicans blocked almost all of Obama’s agenda anyway.  They needed to be fought, not coddled.

Let’s suppose the article is correct and Obama was threatened with reprisal or revolt if he pursued accountability for Bush-era crimes.  Then President Obama should have told the American people what’s going on.

In fact, judging by his many sellouts, I think Obama is a centrist, with little sympathy for progressive ideals. Hence, I have my doubts that Obama was forced by threats to relinquish accountability.  He may have been threatened, but he still had an obligation to do the right thing. And he still went out of his way to protect and aid the GOP.  Anyone who pretends that Obama was forced to make his many compromises is hiding their head in the sand.

The American people need to DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY, or we will never be able to set things back on course towards justice, prosperity, and fairness.