Change of venue

Michael Balter 1/30/2010 12:59:00 AM Politics
Here's the lede of a story in the New York Times today:

The Obama administration on Friday gave up on its plan to try the Sept. 11 plotters in Lower Manhattan, bowing to almost unanimous pressure from New York officials and business leaders to move the terrorism trial elsewhere.

Shouldn't that be alleged Sept. 11 plotters? The administration's decision to hold the trial in New York City was a dumb-ass move from the get-go, because the attorneys for the defendants were sure to argue that they couldn't get a fair trial there. And they almost certainly would have been right.

Obama was right to insist that they should be tried in the United States rather than by a military commission in Guantanamo. But by picking a highly controversial place to hold the trial, and then--much worse--giving in to pressure to move it someplace else, Obama has shot himself in both feet.

He has also taken the punch out of what otherwise could have been a good lesson in the principles of American justice, which Americans are sorely in need of.

Obama is making all the wrong moves these days. The joy of having elected a liberal Black Democrat as president didn't last long, which perhaps should not have surprised us. After all, he is still a Democrat.

PS--At some point, on some issue, Obama will have to stand his ground and demonstrate that he can't be pressured. Otherwise he is finished.
Michael Balter

Posted by Michael Balter

I have been a working journalist for more than 40 years, beginning in Los Angeles as an investigative reporter and then in Paris as a travel, food, and science writer. For more than 20 years I have covered anthropology and archaeology writer for Science, Audubon, Scientific American, SAPIENS, and other publications. I have also covered sexual misconduct for The Verge, Scientific American, and others; I write about mental health, especially schizophrenia; and I engage in occasional media criticism. I returned to the USA in October 2017 after 30 years in Paris, and now live in the New York City area, where I currently teach journalism at City College of New York (I previously taught journalism at Boston University and New York University.) For more about me and what I do, copies of my articles, information about my book, and other goodies, please visit MY WEB SITE

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4 Comments

Anne Gilbert said…
The trouble with Obama, and with the Democrats generally, is that they haven't yet had the courage to develop a spine. There are a variety of reasons for this, including Obama's personality itslf. But you're right. Sooner or later, they will have to do that. Or who knows what horrors the future will bring us?
Anne G
January 30, 2010 at 5:01 PM
Anonymous said…
Obama shoots himself in both feet a lot these days. He really is an incompetent twit, trying to stand in presidential shoes he doesn't fit.
I believed his campaign, but I think he's failed utterly since then.

Richard
February 4, 2010 at 11:44 PM
Anonymous said…
KSM will be tried in a show trial reminiscent of Stalin's era.
He is almost certainly not in the least innocent of anything, but he knows he is going to die, because Obama's spokesperson has already said he will be executed.
So he has every incentive to claim in public that he planned everything from 9/11 to the reported phony confessions he made a few years ago

regards
Richard
February 5, 2010 at 12:01 AM
Anonymous said…
Michael Balter says......

"The joy of having elected a liberal Black Democrat as president...."

That is a disgusting racist statement.
Why would there be "joy" in having a "black" president, liberal or otherwise? Technically, he´s not black anyway, as he is half white, but why even mention his skin colour? Would you have been saddened to see a white person elected? Are a candidates policies no longer relevant to his eligibility, but rather his skin colour?
Dear me.
If you want to retain any credibility, retract this bias and prejudiced statement immediately.
February 5, 2010 at 10:38 AM
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