Dahlia Lithwick challenges Zev Chafets' contention that because "Obama has largely adopted the Cheney playbook on combating terrorism, from keeping Gitmo open to trying suspected enemies of the state in military tribunals" that Cheney's policies have been thoroughly vindicated and we all live in Cheney's America:
[While] The Obama administration is responsible for Cheney's continued legitimacy in the debate about torture, as well as the legitimacy of the debate itself... By deciding to repudiate torture while doing everything in its power to protect the torturers, the Obama administration has succeeded in elevating not only Cheney but the idea that, in America, some torturers are too important to be punished...
Most of [us] agree that we should
not be a nation of torturers, and that torture has tarnished the reputation of
the United States as a beacon of justice. Most of us do not want warrantless
surveillance, secret prisons, or war against every dictator who looks at us
funny. We may be bloodthirsty, but we aren't morons. On his most combative and
truly lawless positions, Cheney still stands largely alone.
