Opinion

Will Obama restore constitutional government?

While most of us have had our attention fixed on the global economic firestorm, President Obama is failing to meet his only sworn responsibility as our chief executive - to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Americans understand that President George W. Bush defiled the Constitution with the Patriot Acts, military commissions, torture, extraordinary rendition and warrantless wiretapping. Now, just weeks into the Obama era, we are seeing that little has changed in terms of extra-constitutional prosecution of the so-called war on terror. So far, Obama has signed an order banning "harsh interrogation techniques" but may be keeping other reprehensible policies in place, and perhaps adding a few of his own.

President Obama issued an order to close the Guantanamo Bay prison as one of his first official acts. He was duly praised for what seemed a reversal of the sad legacy of his predecessor. Days later, however, the Christian Science Monitor reported that, in seeming contradiction to the Obama executive order closing Guantanamo, nearly three times as many prisoners are being held without due process at an enormous U.S. military prison in Bagram, Afghanistan. Last month, U.S. District Judge John Bates gave the Obama administration until today to "refine" its position on "open-ended detention."

Meanwhile, plans for detention at home are being expanded under Democratic Party leadership. On Jan. 22, Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., a former judge who was impeached and removed from the bench before being elected to Congress, introduced HR645, the National Emergency Centers Establishment Act. This bill calls for the establishment of six centers on military installations across the United States. Previous centers were for addressing an "emergency influx of immigrants" or to support "the rapid development of new programs." These new FEMA centers are "to provide temporary housing, medical and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster."

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, is to date the sole member of Congress willing to raise a public stink. "Apparently, the fusion centers, militarized police, surveillance cameras and a domestic military command is not enough," blogged Rep. Paul. "Even though we know that detention facilities are already in place, they now want to legalize the construction of FEMA camps on military installations using the ever popular excuse that the facilities are for the purposes of a national emergency. With the phony debt-based economy getting worse and worse by the day, the possibility of civil unrest is becoming a greater threat to the establishment. One need only look at Iceland, Greece and other nations for what might happen in the United States next."

Why, asks Paul, are these centers being constructed on military bases if they're not for the purpose of detaining large groups of people? Obama should explain what is going on.

Last fall, we learned who would be doing the rounding up when, for the first time since Reconstruction, U.S. troops were deployed within U.S. borders. The Third Infantry Division's 1st Combat Team, trained during multiple tours in Iraq, will "help with civil unrest and crowd control." According to Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, commander of the U.S. Northern Command, at least two more brigades will be deployed by 2010. The doctrine of posse comitatus, under which U.S. troops shall not be used against U.S. citizens, prohibits detaining us. Obama needs to explain why continuing this program is not a violation.

In his inaugural address, Obama "rejected as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." His actions in the first month of his presidency appear to belie his rhetoric. The success of the Obama presidency will turn on the degree to which he can command the trust and respect of both the American people and the international community. If he shortchanges his pledge to return the country to lawful and constitutional government, achieving his greater goals may become impossible.