# Obama extends Gitmo
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [March 8, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888 "2011-03-08T04:06:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/1 "2011-03-08T04:06:07Z")
Did I miss something while I was away?
Where’s the liberal outrage?
_“The announcements, coming more than two years after Obama vowed in another executive order to close the detention center, all but cements Guantanamo Bay’s continuing role in U.S. counterterrorism policy.”_
> **[Obama creates indefinite detention system for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay](https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/07/AR2011030704871.html?hpid=topnews)**
>
> President Obama signed an executive order Monday that will create a formal system of indefinite detention for those held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who continue to pose a significant threat to national security. The...
I don’t think I have a particularly worthy opinion on either side, but I guess I thought there’d be a little more outrage from the pansy side of the fence.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/2 "2011-03-08T04:12:35Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#):
>
> Did I miss something while I was away?
> Where’s the liberal outrage?
You aren’t listening to actual liberals? Liberals despise Obama. And I’ve already heard outrage about this, if not on this board yet.
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### Author:  [@Naxos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Naxos)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/3 "2011-03-08T04:18:58Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#):
>
> Did I miss something while I was away?
> Where’s the liberal outrage?
The outrage is with the human excrement that established them.
The disappointment with Obama is what caused too many centrist and progressives abstain from the polls last November and let the sewage of Republicans regain the House, so this type of action does have an effect, after all.
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### Author:  [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/4 "2011-03-08T04:42:00Z")
Thou shalt not draw attention to the failings of The One.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/5 "2011-03-08T04:50:02Z")
> [@magellan01](#):
>
> Thou shalt not draw attention to the failings of The One.
:rolleyes: Please. Stop projecting the flaws of the right wing onto the left. It’s the Right that insists on treating Republican Presidents as Messiahs whose acts are never to be questioned; the Left has criticized Obama from the beginning.
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### Author:  [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/6 "2011-03-08T04:53:03Z")
…and, we’re off!
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/7 "2011-03-08T04:54:08Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#):
>
> …and, we’re off!
Oh, America’s been more than a bit off for a long time.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/8 "2011-03-08T04:58:56Z")
> [@magellan01](#):
>
> Thou shalt not draw attention to the failings of The One.
No one ever thought he was perfect. It’s just that the alternative was unspeakable (and still is).
I wish he wouldn’t do this, but I never expected that he would do everything I wanted.
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### Author:  [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/9 "2011-03-08T05:07:47Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> No one ever thought he was perfect. It’s just that the alternative was unspeakable (and still is).
>
> I wish he wouldn’t do this, but I never expected that he would do everything I wanted.
Please. This is one of his “absolute” promises to the American people before the election.
If the democrats that elected him had any self-respect, they’d vote against Obama in the primary. He’s blown a number of his campaign “promises”.
Change - Yeah, right.
Hope - good one!
Wake me up when we are out of Afghanistan and Iraq. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/10 "2011-03-08T05:08:09Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#):
>
> Where’s the liberal outrage?
It’s not Bush doing this so why would there be any outrage?
The hypocrisy of the left shines on.
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### Author:  [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/11 "2011-03-08T05:11:12Z")
Have you been paying any attention to this topic over the past 2 years? Plenty of SDMB members are displeased that Obama has continued these policies. There’s no outrage because it was expended like 10 threads ago.
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### Author:  [@Orr\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orr_G)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/12 "2011-03-08T05:15:59Z")
> [@Naxos](#):
>
> The outrage is with the human excrement that established them.
>
> The disappointment with Obama is what caused too many centrist and progressives abstain from the polls last November and let the sewage of Republicans regain the House, so this type of action does have an effect, after all.
Yup.
Obama’s actions (or lack thereof) often leave me feeling disappointed, depressed, disenfranchised. I won’t make the mistake of letting that keep me from the polls in the future, however. The price we pay is too great.
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### Author:  [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/13 "2011-03-08T05:16:50Z")
His initial promise fulfilled it’s main purpose; actually carrying it out was always secondary.
Besides, not closing the place gives him more ammunition for the next election, since he can blame a/ The Republicans, b/ Bush, c/ Congress, d/ The Democrats’ obstructionalists, e/ State legislators, f/ The inmates, or whomever is nearest, for stopping him from carrying out his promises the first time by providing opposition.
By 2017 or 2021 it will be someone else’s problem.
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### Author:  [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/14 "2011-03-08T05:17:21Z")
I’m outraged. About this, about his (until recently) defense of DOMA, about the wimpy-ass way he handled health care reform, about a lot of things.
But it’s a DAMN sure bet that McCain would’ve fucked people like me over harder, faster, and longer, had he been elected. And it’s a DAMN sure bet that the Republican candidate in 2012 is going to be made of the same cloth - spouting social conservative platitudes and dogwhistles, making promises to continue attacking health care, medical services for women, equal rights for gays and lesbians, and many many other issues that are important to me. All the while promising corporations and Wall Street that he or she will let those entities bend me over and fuck me up the ass without lube.
I’m outraged that Obama hasn’t done enough, and has reneged on promises. But anyone on the Republican party side isn’t going to even promise to do any better in terms of the things that matter to me. And there have been things that Obama’s accomplished that I agree with that a Republican president, especially John McCain, wouldn’t have attempted.
So, I don’t know exactly what you’re expecting - we’re supposed to be so disappointed that Obama is the middle-of-the-road Republican in Democrat’s clothing we all knew he was that we’ll shift our vote to a right-wing Republican?
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/15 "2011-03-08T06:11:09Z")
Is there any debate here?
Or is it just a crap-fest on the straw man of what some think “the left” is like?
Complete with the projection of “Obama worship”?
Yes, Obama should be closing Gitmo. It’s difficult because of the untenable position he was put in by the idiotic former Chief Executive and his staff. Difficult, but he should have found a way to do it.
Sorry the left was not shouting it from the rooftops the way you’d like.
You’re free to start an actual debate on the topic without poisoning the well from the start, you know.
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### Author:  [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/16 "2011-03-08T06:19:36Z")
_Looks at timestamps_
Looks like the story was only a few hours old (if that) when the OP started this thread. It has kind of a “Why haven’t you already denounced this thing that you’re hearing about just now?” vibe.
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/17 "2011-03-08T06:36:57Z")
The plan to transfer them to prisons in the US or try them in the US courts was blocked by Congress, so what’s the president supposed to do with the people there?
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/18 "2011-03-08T06:40:15Z")
Am I disappointed? Yes.
Am I surprised? No.
Will I vote for Obama next year? You bet your sweet bippy.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/19 "2011-03-08T06:42:34Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#):
>
> His initial promise fulfilled it’s main purpose
Getting himself elected? 😛
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### Author:  [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-extends-gitmo/573888/20 "2011-03-08T06:46:49Z")
Obama, just like every politician that ever runs for office and wins, fell victim to _realpolitik_. This is just another further example of why you should never take a politician at his word when he runs for office. A campaign promise is exactly that, something that he need not follow up on once the campaign is over.
More’s the pity. I had hoped that he would follow through on that particular promise, but only a great fool would expect it.
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