Rand Paul's filibuster yesterday on the nomination of John Brennan to be CIA Director did a number of things, all potentially good:
1. It thrust Senator Paul into the foreground as an attractive and smart new voice for Republicans. The contrast with the dour and inarticulate John Boehner is stark.
2. It may have made him a candidate for President in 2016. He would add a lot to the debates.
3. It focused attention on the lawlessness of the Obama administration. The incipient tyranny of a regime that won't say that it rules out drone strikes against American citizens on American soil should be scary to everyone, left and right.
4. It highlighted the hypocrisy of the left, which castigated Bush for waterboarding, but has given Obama a pass for wholesale extrajudicial assassination by drone.
5. It gave Republicans a win, at least in terms of public perception, a win they sorely needed after months of seeming to lose every battle.
***
UPDATE: Charles Krauthammer agrees with me. Or vice-versa.
No comments:
Post a Comment