The new USA president rode into town on promises of change. But where are the changes
Troops are still in and will remain in an illegal war zone.
Prisoners are denied fair trials
The USA still pollutes like there is no tomorrow
And who would have thought a Democrat would give billions of dollars to the ivory tower brigades.
I see little difference between the worst president and the new one with the most promise(s)

beefyboy,
Look on the bright side.
At least he's nominating Supreme Court judges on the basis of race, gender and victim status, not competence.
That should pay off in the long run in terms of "progressive" decisions.

Dear BB,

President Obama has been in office approximately
4 months. He's had to change positions on an
array of issues due to circumstances beyond
his control - that have dictated his priorities,
especially with the economy being in dissaray.
This has had an impact on some of the promises
he's made.

Change doesn't happen overnight.

Regarding the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. He's
been willing to listen to his military commanders -
who've pressed for a later deadline. The issue is
a complex one but as he confirmed in a speech he
gave to his soldiers on a military base recently:

"America can no longer afford to see Iraq in
isolation from other priorities: we face the challenge
of refocusing on Afghanistan and Pakistan...
Of relieving the burden of our military, of re-building
our struggling economy and these are challenges we will
meet..."

Dear KMB,

Do you mean the competent uniformly
white and male, Supreme Court Judges of
the past - whose opinions, sympathies,
and prejudices, including their impartiality
were never questioned when they delivered historic
rulings against racial and sexual discrimination?

How could a black woman who attended Princeton
and Yale on route to the highest echelons of
the legal profession possibly compete with these
men?

You got one thing right - President Obama did
make a progressive decision with her nomination
to the Supreme Court.

Foxy I concede that the US President has made a good choice re the Supreme Court appointment and W probably would not have done that.
However in regards to illegal wars and illegal detention the most powerful leader in the world is complicit and little different to the former war monger.

Goerge Bushes' Patriot Act is still there and Obama will do as he is told by the Corporate Empire.

Dear BB,

President Obama will close Guantanamo and
roll back some of the most divisive
Bush-era anti-terrorism policies.

However, as I wrote in my earlier post -
change doesn't come instantly and he's
inherited quite a mess from the previous
administration. He's got to quell a
domestic backlash against his efforts to
close the condemned US prison. It also
doesn't help that the US Senate, controlled
by fellow Democrats, handed him a setback
by blocking funds to shutter the prison until
he presents a detailed plan on what to do with
the 240 terrorism suspects held there.

In addition the former vice president,
Dick Cheney goes around publicly scare-mongering
that the American people will be less safe if
Guantanamo is closed.

President Obama has a lot on his plate. However,
he will still pursue his goal of doing what he sees
as the right thing to do., "We uphold our most
cherished values, because doing so is right..."