Looks like 9/11 suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (pictured here modeling the world’s least flattering neckline) will not be tried in Manhattan. Yesterday, Chris Cassidy argued that this wasn’t such a big deal. But I’m worried — partly because courthouses are important symbols, and partly because this is one more in a string of capitulations by the Obama administration.
All terrorists — sorry, alleged terrorists — should be tried in criminal court. The good reasons for this have been expounded many times by folks more eloquent than myself. Despite reactionary rants that a due process trial would somehow allow Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to slip out a window and kill us all in our sleep, no one really thinks KSM will get off on the Twinkie defense. He’s going away for a long time. Still, how we convict him is of great symbolic importance — and “symbolic,” here, should by no means undercut “importance.” After all, perhaps the most important function of criminal justice is its symbolic power — retribution, reconciliation, catharsis. But that’s a deeper discussion than we have time for.
A KSM trial in the Lower Manhattan Southern District courthouse would have sent a lot of the right messages. But Mayor Mike Bloomberg revoked his support, claiming courthouse security would cost too much, and once again, the Obama administration has shied away from political conflict and is now scrambling to find another venue.
My knee-jerk impulse was to call this cowardly. But I will heed Obama’s call and refrain from oversimplification. I do understand the argument against a Manhattan trial; the area would have to be secured, after all, and if that would really cost $250 million per year, that does sound like an impractical use of resources.
Still, it seems like the Obama administration is falling into a worrisome pattern: stake out controversial position, receive political fire, defend position at first, take more fire, then retract and run for cover.
First Obama defended Van Jones against Glenn Beck’s schizophrenic rants; then Jones got canned. First Obama defended his decision to close Guantanamo within his first year; then he, uh, forgot to do that. First Obama made a big stink about rolling back Bush-era CIA tactics; then, while outlawing waterboarding, he kept extraordinary rendition. A health care plan without a public option; a stimulus bill that was one-third tax cuts; an indefinitely delayed agenda on gay rights — all of these have been casualties of compromise.
Now, let me clarify a few things. First: I understand that politics is the art of compromise, and I know my side is not going to win every debate. Second: I do not think “flip-flopping” is a weakness; changing one’s mind is, in fact, a mark of intelligence. Third: I am not, nor have I ever been, an Obama hater. I still wear the rhinestone-studded Obama hat that I bought at inauguration. While I understand the temptation to be cynical about Obama, or to dismay that he hasn’t done more, ultimately I think those reactions are facile and unproductive.
And yet I wonder if Obama isn’t sometimes too diplomatic. It’s great that he wants to be bipartisan; but it doesn’t seem like anyone else in Washington shares that desire. It’s great that he wants to avoid distracting political fights; but at what point is he going to meet a fight he’s ready to take on? He doesn’t want to insist on a terror trial in Manhattan because it will squander much-needed political capital. Fine. But at a certain point he’ll have to insist on something. I hate to say it, but it kind of makes you miss The Decider. What he did was terrible, but he sure did it quickly.
Obama keeps saying he wants to change the tone in Washington, and in my heart of hearts I hope he succeeds. His command performance at the Republican Q&A last week was a step in the right direction. Still, even if he can win the hearts and minds of Republicans, can he win their votes? As Obama himself pointed out several times at the Q&A, the Republican opposition to everything is not about policy but about grandstanding for reelection. In order to counter that thick Machiavellian fog, Obama might have to get off his pedestal and get a little Machiavellian himself. I want Obama to change the tone in Washington. Really, I do. But you know what I want more than that? Affordable health care.
Photo Credit: an agent