Finally: Jon Stewart takes on Obama’s broken criminal rights promises

I’ve been waiting for this for a long time now, and Jon Stewart finally delivered last night when he criticized President Obama for his numerous, blatant and terribly disappointing flip-flops on legal/criminal rights, such as his continued suspension of habeas corpus, reauthorization of the PATRIOT act and its warrantless wiretaps, continuing to allow indefinite detentions without a court hearing, continuing the practice known as “extraordinary renditions”, his failure (and relative lack of effort) to close down Guantanamo Bay, his crackdown on whistleblowers who he previously swore to protect, authorizing the murder of US citizens without due process, and etc.

Don’t get me wrong: I generally approve of Obama, and I certainly think that he’s the far better choice than the horror that we would’ve had otherwise. (Seriously, just listen to this idiot blabber. You’d think she lost her brain in a childhood accident and never realized it. And John “undecided maverick” McCain is certainly no better.) He’s clearly done quite a few many things right since taking office: legalizing stem cell research and placing a renewed importance on science, furthering LGBT rights and equality (albeit painfully slowly), improving relations with the middle-east and the rest of the world, his continued push for greener energies, and so on. No-one can reasonably deny that he’s generally a good thing for the United States, and to say that he’s overall comparable to Bush is just fucking moronic and reeks of demagogy. But he and his administration do have some glaring drawbacks, and it’s good for the media – or, at least, outlets such as The Daily Show – to finally sink their teeth into them.

(via @todayspolitics)