Barack Obama has been spooked

Our president is afraid. He's terrified of the Spooks. I'm not talking about haunted houses or grim apparitions that go bump in the night; I'm talking about spies.

Spooks, or undercover agents, are letting our president know in certain terms that their loyalty is dependent on his willingness to keep the lid on any investigation of misdeeds, torture, and unconstitutional activities of the Bush Administration. The intelligence agencies like the CIA, NSA, DIS, etc. are making it very clear that they want this whole investigation of the previous administration placed forever under the rug.

So, why is the president afraid of these goons? The people, by every poll and measure of popular sentiment is firmly behind bringing the rule of law back to Washington DC and prosecuting the people that took America into the dark places. Why is it taking so long to get a real investigation going over the crimes of the Bush Administration? Crimes were committed. We have convictions, we have evidence, we have perpetrators, why don't we have more trials?

When Obama took office, he faced a complex of Capital City brick walls. He was an outsider that was chosen by people who were more than a little pissed off at the conventional wisdom and the insular bubble of Washington DC. He came into power to make change, change that was a definitive threat to that bubble. One of his first tasks was to take on the mantle of law enforcer, seek out the people that took us to war on a pack of lies and who shredded the Constitution for their own nefarious needs. However, he got schooled as soon as he stepped into the Oval Office for the first time.

The Spooks came for him. They were probably waiting in the Oval Office as he walked in. They represented the entire intelligence community. They had but one message: Back off.

Obama's advisers were the first to cave. Obama couldn't govern without the cooperation of the intelligentsia, the Spooks. The last thing you want is to piss off the Spooks, you'll find your stay in the White House shorter than you thought. John Kennedy found that out.

The Blogs and the Independent media have been screaming for investigations of the Bush Cabal. We've been tearing our collective hair out trying to get Obama to commit to starting an investigation of the Bush Crimes. The evidence is out there. You would have to be a complete moron or a Republican to not see it. What is taking so long?

Obama was still being independent when he choose Leon Panetta to head the CIA. Panetta was no Spook. He is a policy wonk, a government insider. He was an Obama man. The Spooks didn't take this too well. They wanted one of their own. They wanted a career man, a person who had a few CIA skeletons in his closet that could be used to keep him 'honest' or in line. They want the status quo.
Basically, they want Obama to keep his hands off the Agency.

Our intelligentsia, the Spooks, have spent the last eight years doing what they do best. They've been fulfilling every Spooks fantasy by interrogating Iraqi prisoners in less than legal ways. They've been listening in on private phone conversations by ordinary people regardless of the constitutionality. They've been making people disappear into foreign countries so that other agencies can have some interrogation fun. Eight years of good times. Seems a shame that it all has to end.

Enter the Obama Administration and Change We Can Believe In. They were waiting for him.

Ever since the inauguration, Obama has been slowly but steadily moving away from initiating any investigation of the Bush Crimes. He has been Spooked.

It's going to take a lot of pressure to get Obama to change his mind. He still uses that old standby "We need to look forward, not backward". He will risk setting himself against the Spooks, something that may be more powerful than popular sentiment.

My question to President Obama is simply: Just who is running this country, We, the People or the Spooks?

So Mote It Be,
David A.