President Obama in his speech this morning reminded Americans that America, prior to Bush, did not torture. Obama said that America was the country that opposed torture and that closed down torture camps and established a rule of law. “That is who we are,” he said.
“That is who we are.” We are a nation that does not torture. That seems a good starting point. How could we forget something so important? Obama says that under Bush we were guided by emotion, “fear,” rather than guided by good judgment, “foresight.”
Obama’s right about the effects of fear. Part of this may be because conservative Republicans took advantage of the fact that they were in charge when 9/11 happened and used fear to advance a conservative political agenda. If they had put that aside things might have been different. They have now suffered a setback. But what will happen in the long term? Much will depend on how things go under Obama, but the world faces long term structural problems that will challenge Americans’ economic and psychological well being.