By Eleonora di Liscia

Imagine you are the new fire chief in town. You come in with promises to reverse the prior chief’s dreadful record of charred ruins. You train your staff and order state of the art equipment. Then you get the alarm that a house is on fire.

You dispatch your squad of rescue vehicles, but everywhere they turn, some road hog is blocking their way. The few vehicles that make it through discover that the city council has turned off their water supply. Still, you manage to pull out the family pets and a few other valuables.
And this is a little like Obama and the reversal of the Bush Administration’s policies on torture, detention and Guantanamo. Obama has come under fire for breaking his promise to close Gitmo and for recently signing off on indefinite detention. But the reality is much more complex. Yet, progress has been made on a variety of civil liberty fronts.

GITMO: Obama has made several attempts to close Gitmo. The oath of office was barely uttered when he issued an executive order to close the base. And then the fear set in. Where were the detainees going to go? Would we be safe? Not in my backyard!

Obama planned to bring detainees to the U.S. or at least bring them to trial in federal court (as opposed to military tribunals favored by Republicans), but these moves were stymied. Some critics blamed him for not pushing hard enough while being distracted with health care reform. Eventually, Congress blocked money to close the base, transfer detainees to the U.S or any other country or even allow prosecution in federal courts.

But when Obama can’t get what he wants, he does what he can. A second executive order in March, 2011 outlined at least some due process protections for indefinite detainees. The detention must meet the standard of being “necessary to protect against a significant threat to the security of the United States” and has to be periodically reviewed in a hearing. The detainee is entitled to present evidence and to have an advocate provided by the government. Under Obama, the number of detainees at Gitmo has shrunk. Nor has he confined new detainees or added new detention centers.
By contrast, Presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney say they would expand Gitmo (Mitt thinks it should actually be doubled), and Rick Santorum thinks Gitmo is essential.

INDEFINITE DETENTION: In December, 2011, the President came under fire for signing a bill which authorized indefinite detention. One must remember, however, that these decisions do not take place in a vacuum. Given a choice between authorizing indefinite detention or not, Obama would undoubtedly end the practice. However, that was not the choice before him when he signed the bill. The indefinite detention provision was part of a 500-page National Defense Authorization Act, a defense appropriations bill. To veto the bill would have caused military families to go without a paycheck as well as creating other hardships for them and national security. So the President signed.

The fact that indefinite detention was even attached to defense money underscores the need to unseat Congressional Republicans such as Robert Dold.

But again, Obama did what he could. His December 31, 2011 signing statement outlines how he intends to interpret the law. Obama set out how the bill oversteps executive branch authority and undermines national security. He affirmed that he will not authorize indefinite military detention without trial. Critics say the signing statement does not go far enough, but a President Romney would not only have signed the bill but expanded indefinite detention.

THE ACLU 2012 CANDIDATE REPORT CARD: While the American Civil Liberties Union is somewhat tepid on Obama’s performance, its 2012 candidate report card gave him a relatively high score. The report card evaluated candidates on humane immigration policy, closing Guantanamo Bay, indefinite detention, Gays and Lesbian marriage and military policies, ending torture, ending surveillance, and reproductive choice. Each of 7 categories had a four “torch’ value. While Obama only scored 13 out of 28, remember that even university exams are graded on a curve. Gingrich earned a whopping two torches total, while Romney and Santorum earned 0s in every category. True, Ron Paul outscored Obama. But it may be hard to enjoy those extra liberties while suffocating in smog after President Paul abolishes the EPA.

Obama received at least 3 torches each for his policy on gays in the military, gay marriage, reproductive choice and ending torture. For torture, Obama rescinded Bush’s legal justifications for torture and abolished CIA secret prisons. There are no reports of extraordinary rendition (sending detainees to other countries to be tortured) or torture on his watch.

Most refreshingly, the administration actually declares that waterboarding is torture. While Bush did discontinued its use, former Vice President Cheney still adamantly defends it. And what about Newt, Mitt and Rick? Well, they all support “enhanced interrogation techniques.”