WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.440 --> 00:00:03.620 It's more difficult for me now than it was 2 00:00:03.620 --> 00:00:05.630 in the Bush administration, 3 00:00:05.630 --> 00:00:09.783 because I saw something that we could fight clearly. 4 00:00:10.700 --> 00:00:12.640 And, you know, I felt it was a struggle 5 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:13.690 and it would be over. 6 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:16.220 I don't understand what's happened 7 00:00:16.220 --> 00:00:17.550 to the Obama administration. 8 00:00:17.550 --> 00:00:22.320 I mean, I can speculate, but I supported Obama early. 9 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:27.290 And the reason I did was he was so firm 10 00:00:27.290 --> 00:00:29.910 in support of Habeas Corpus. 11 00:00:29.910 --> 00:00:33.080 You know, I, I also was very involved. 12 00:00:33.080 --> 00:00:36.340 Some would say led the fight in Congress on Habeas Corpus. 13 00:00:36.340 --> 00:00:39.980 And I was extraordinarily impressed by him. 14 00:00:39.980 --> 00:00:43.030 I met with him and some other lawyers from Chicago 15 00:00:43.030 --> 00:00:45.947 in his office and Obama looked at us and he said 16 00:00:45.947 --> 00:00:47.087 "This is wrong." 17 00:00:48.067 --> 00:00:49.997 "I'm your guy, I will work with you." 18 00:00:49.997 --> 00:00:52.410 "You can use my office as the lobby. 19 00:00:52.410 --> 00:00:53.460 And we did. 20 00:00:53.460 --> 00:00:57.390 He was absolutely behind us through the campaign. 21 00:00:57.390 --> 00:00:59.660 You know, as I said, I'm friendly with Tony Lake 22 00:00:59.660 --> 00:01:02.310 who was a chief foreign policy advisor. 23 00:01:02.310 --> 00:01:07.140 I wrote policy papers on Guantanamo, on detainee treatment. 24 00:01:07.140 --> 00:01:08.680 They adopted them all. 25 00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:10.950 I mean, he, the some of the lines 26 00:01:10.950 --> 00:01:12.340 that you'll see Obama made, 27 00:01:12.340 --> 00:01:14.390 you'll see from our briefs. 28 00:01:14.390 --> 00:01:16.970 You know, this line that we're different from other nations. 29 00:01:16.970 --> 00:01:19.480 We believe in, you know, these things, 30 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:21.050 right from the initial briefs. 31 00:01:21.050 --> 00:01:24.270 The idea that we are stronger because of our principles. 32 00:01:24.270 --> 00:01:26.740 We sacrifice our principles, or, you know 33 00:01:26.740 --> 00:01:29.653 we sacrifice our strength in what we believe in. 34 00:01:30.860 --> 00:01:33.550 The idea of yes, we stand up for Habeas Corpus. 35 00:01:33.550 --> 00:01:35.490 The extraordinary thing to me is 36 00:01:35.490 --> 00:01:38.290 I think Obama believed in those things, 37 00:01:38.290 --> 00:01:40.170 probably does believe in them. 38 00:01:40.170 --> 00:01:43.110 The extraordinary thing is usually in campaigns, 39 00:01:43.110 --> 00:01:44.020 people are wimpy, 40 00:01:44.020 --> 00:01:45.630 and then they do things after the campaign. 41 00:01:45.630 --> 00:01:48.270 He was strong in the campaigns and won on those things, 42 00:01:48.270 --> 00:01:50.210 and now he's abandoned them. 43 00:01:50.210 --> 00:01:52.670 I mean, I can blame it on Rahm Emanuel, 44 00:01:52.670 --> 00:01:57.200 who, who has said, I mean, Greg Craig tells the story, 45 00:01:57.200 --> 00:01:59.217 that Rahm Emanuel said, 46 00:01:59.217 --> 00:02:01.973 "I have to bring down two 747s, 47 00:02:02.887 --> 00:02:05.557 "healthcare and the war in Afghanistan." 48 00:02:05.557 --> 00:02:06.967 "And Guantanamo and those things 49 00:02:06.967 --> 00:02:09.117 "are like a flock of geese that get in the way." 50 00:02:09.117 --> 00:02:10.817 "I'm not going to pass for those." 51 00:02:11.700 --> 00:02:14.030 You know, that's the view. 52 00:02:14.030 --> 00:02:18.040 That's in my view, little, small thinking. 53 00:02:18.040 --> 00:02:18.873 It's not that, you know, 54 00:02:18.873 --> 00:02:23.873 we're radical liberals on everything, or left wingers. 55 00:02:24.020 --> 00:02:28.160 But he was out to regenerate this country 56 00:02:28.160 --> 00:02:29.280 and what was wrong with it. 57 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:30.830 This was an essential part of it. 58 00:02:30.830 --> 00:02:33.740 And I think he's given, it's so. 59 00:02:33.740 --> 00:02:36.280 It's stupid really, because he knows 60 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:37.600 as a matter of foreign policy, 61 00:02:37.600 --> 00:02:40.010 Guantanamo continues to this day 62 00:02:40.010 --> 00:02:42.160 to hurt us very badly abroad, 63 00:02:42.160 --> 00:02:43.820 but he's boxed himself in now. 64 00:02:43.820 --> 00:02:46.270 He can't close it because he's given way 65 00:02:46.270 --> 00:02:49.850 to this Republican right, to compromise on other issues. 66 00:02:49.850 --> 00:02:51.090 So he's caught. 67 00:02:51.090 --> 00:02:52.760 I mean, you know, I'll give you another example. 68 00:02:52.760 --> 00:02:57.760 I mean, on day one they announced the closing of Guantanamo. 69 00:02:58.220 --> 00:03:00.350 Dick Cheney went to the airwaves. 70 00:03:00.350 --> 00:03:01.280 Do you remember right away? 71 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:02.767 And he said, "This is crazy." 72 00:03:02.767 --> 00:03:04.407 "This is jeopardizing our security." 73 00:03:04.407 --> 00:03:06.717 "The people at Guantanamo, those remaining, 74 00:03:06.717 --> 00:03:07.927 "are the worst of the worst." 75 00:03:07.927 --> 00:03:09.440 "They're all trained killers." 76 00:03:09.440 --> 00:03:11.423 Now, nobody said anything. 77 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:15.530 By the time, at the time Cheney left office, 78 00:03:15.530 --> 00:03:18.730 60 of the people at Guantanamo had already been cleared 79 00:03:18.730 --> 00:03:22.090 by his administration as innocent people wronging out. 80 00:03:22.090 --> 00:03:23.700 Since that time, there had been what, 81 00:03:23.700 --> 00:03:25.660 now there are about 50 habeas cases 82 00:03:25.660 --> 00:03:28.540 80%, the court said these people are innocent. 83 00:03:28.540 --> 00:03:30.690 Nobody said that publicly. 84 00:03:30.690 --> 00:03:33.730 I, you know, I tried to say it or tried to publish letters. 85 00:03:33.730 --> 00:03:35.330 Nobody said it. 86 00:03:35.330 --> 00:03:38.790 So as a result by leaving the airwaves free, 87 00:03:38.790 --> 00:03:42.810 by ceding the the facts to Cheney, 88 00:03:42.810 --> 00:03:45.280 people started believing it. 89 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:47.090 Nobody took it on. 90 00:03:47.090 --> 00:03:48.850 And as a result now, you know 91 00:03:48.850 --> 00:03:50.870 the majority is not for closing Guantanamo. 92 00:03:50.870 --> 00:03:52.520 So we're boxed in and was. 93 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:54.313 I don't know what the hell happened.