I know a lot of stuff.
But an area about which I know absolutely nothing is foreign policy, torture, and everything relating to the Middle East.
For this reason, I haven't blogged much on the torture stuff. For me it is very simple – the U.S. shouldn't torture. Ever. – but the national conversation includes a lot of stuff that makes me tend to wanna shut up about shit I don't know.
Luckily, my boy Ta-Nehisi Coates has written a beautiful post about why Obama should go on 'head and investigate the architects of the U.S. recent foray into torture:
I believe that while a good politician accomplishes what is possible, a great one expands the realm of possibility. He doesn't simply accept the lines of argument as their drawn and hew to the side with the most soldiers, he tries to redraw those lines to benefit his ideals. Obama's jobs isn't simply to spend his own political capital, it's to grow his capital, and by extension, the moral weight of his ideals. Perhaps pushing torture investigations would make passing health care harder. But this is the business he chose. This is the business of becoming great. And after what happened last year, we have the right to expect more of him. We have the right to demand more.
Indeed.
Barry – you listening?
