Will DiNovi
Will DiNovi is an intern at The Atlantic.
Recently by Will DiNovi
Mar 27 2009, 1:30PM
The Angry Left
"It doesn't look like Obama is changing anything," said Kyle Quigley, an Iraq War veteran who had traveled from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to attend the rally. The president's decision to delay withdrawal from Iraq by three months is a sign, Quigley argued, of Obama's "backsliding" on his campaign promise to end the war. Quigley's frustration with the president was shared by many of the anti-war activists at the rally, which was sponsored by the group Act Now To Stop War and End Racism.
Cautious and pragmatic, Obama has always been more centrist than his supporters on the left. His 2008 pledge to raise troop levels in Afghanistan and his vow to be as "careful getting out" of Iraq "as we were careless going in" disappointed those looking for a swift rejection of George W. Bush's foreign policy. Now two months into his presidency, Obama's cautious centrism has provoked an inevitable rift with some of the most devoted interest groups that swept him to power.
Mar 18 2009, 6:54PM
How's It Playing? The Country Internalizes AIG Anger
Multimedia
Mar 11 2009, 4:27PM
Jindal On Taking Stimulus Money
Mar 11 2009, 4:03PM
Quote of the Day: McCain on Earmark Reform
Mar 10 2009, 7:32PM
Green Giant
Mar 6 2009, 4:51PM
Census Controversy
Reports released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office show critical preparations for the 2010 census are behind schedule and the Bureau lacks a clear strategy for improving outreach to undercounted minorities. The GAO concludes that the Bureau has insufficient policies and procedures and inadequately trained staff for conducting the decennial count.
In response, Sen. Tom Carper (D) of Delaware used a subcommittee hearing Thursday to call attention to what he believes is an approaching "state of emergency":
Mar 6 2009, 3:19PM
Quote of the Day: Gibbs Paraphrases Sun Tzu
Mar 5 2009, 1:14PM
For Sebelius, More Opposition from KC's Archbishop
In many ways, I can understand why President Obama selected Governor Sebelius. As I have acknowledged on several other occasions, she is a very bright and gifted leader. In many important areas, she represents well Catholic social teaching. She has advocated for more affordable housing for the poor, she has worked to expand access to health care for economically disadvantaged children, and she has supported incentives encouraging adoption.
Yet, on the fundamental moral issue of protecting innocent human life, Governor Sebelius, throughout her career, has been an outspoken advocate for legalized abortion. For this reason, her appointment to HHS is particularly troubling.
Mar 4 2009, 4:43PM
The Lion of the Senate, and Now a Knight
"Northern Ireland today is at peace, more Americans have health care, children around the world are going to school," Brown said. "And for all these things, we owe a great debt to the life, and courage, of Senator Edward Kennedy." With this honor, the "Lion of the Senate" is entering elite company. Less than 100 Americans have received honorary knighthood since Queen Elizabeth II was coronated in 1953.
Notable Americans who have achieved knighthood include Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, Generals Norman Schwarzkopf and Tommy Franks, Rudolph Giuliani, Henry Kissinger, Bob Hope, Steven Spielberg and Bill Gates. Last month, the British Embassy announced that former senator John Warner of Virginia would also be named a "Knight of the British Empire."
Mar 3 2009, 6:06PM
Reviewing the Bush Administration
In a statement on The Department of Justice website, Attorney General Eric Holder said the memorandums were being released in response to "legitimate and substantial public interest." While Holder's insistence that "Americans deserve a government that operates with transparency and openness" will likely play well among human rights activists and congressional Democrats, the new batch of opinions does not include the most controversial memos these groups have been demanding over the past few years. "Dozens of other OLC memos, including memos that provided the basis for the Bush administration's torture and warrantless wiretapping policies, are still being withheld," said Jameer Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project, in a release issued Monday night. According to DoJ spokesman Matthew Miller, the guidelines proposed by the Attorney General during his confirmation hearing are still in place for these additional policies: a full review will not occur until an assistant attorney general to head the Office of Legal Counsel is confirmed.
Arriving on the heels of reports that the CIA destroyed ninety-two videotapes of interrogations, Monday's revelations underline the challenges that face President Obama and Congress in addressing the controversial legacy of the Bush administration. Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, has called for a nonpartisan "truth commission" to investigate the use of torture, illegal wiretapping, and other alleged abuses of power during the Bush years. Tomorrow's hearing on the proposal, to be held by Leahy's committee, could represent the first concrete step toward a broad review of civil liberties violations under the War on Terror.
With a similar proposal having been offered by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, the idea of examining Bush has gained some traction among prominent Democrats. Some, however, have called for a more aggressive approach.
A number of liberal advocacy groups argue that a truth commission is meaningless without the threat of criminal prosecution. On February 24, over 20 organizations issued a joint statement calling on Holder to directly appoint a special prosecutor to investigate former Bush administration officials. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called the truth commission "a good idea," but has also expressed concerns that Leahy's proposal will offer "immunity" for Bush administration officials. "I think that some of the issues involved here, like politicizing of the Justice Department, and the rest, may have criminal ramifications," she told MSNBC on February 25.
Nothing in President Obama's executive orders thus far suggests that he intends to review the previous administration's actions for possible criminal sanctions. The partisan rancor that might be sparked by any domestic or international prosecution is a significant disincentive for prosecution, especially as Obama seeks to build good will among the GOP's ranks and promote his administration as an open, bipartisan regime. But the arrival of Monday's memos and Wednesday's hearing could represent the best chance yet for those favoring prosecution to legitimize their cause. A USA Today/Gallup Poll conducted in February found that 62 percent of Americans favor a criminal investigation or an independent panel. Wednesday's discussions and testimony may have an outsized influence in determining whether consensus coalesces around one or both of these options.
Wednesday's hearing will be the first open, public discussion by leglisators of both parties geared toward crafting a potential review of Bush. With Obama's new Department of Justice having taken its own step toward making the Bush years more available for review, human rights groups and Bush protesters will be eagerly awaiting what comes out of Wednesday's discussion.
Feb 17 2009, 1:51PM
How's It Playing? The Auto Quandary And Tarp II
Feb 2 2009, 11:42AM
"Like Porcupines Making Love," An Enthused GOP Ponders Steele, Taking On Obama
"We're going to push the Republican Party from vanilla to butterscotch," predicted Holland Redfield, a gregarious Republic National Committee member from the U.S. Virgin Islands. Strolling across the ballroom of the Capital Hilton between the fourth and fifth ballots of Friday's RNC Chairman's election, Redfield insisted that history was in the making: "You're going to see an African-American as the chairman of this party."
Two rounds of voting later, he was proven correct. Former Maryland lieutenant-governor Michael Steele's defeat of South Carolina Republican chairman Katon Dawson on the sixth ballot was not only a symbolic first in the history of the GOP, but also an indication of the hunger for change felt by many of its downtrodden supporters. After an election cycle in which Republicans lost virtually every demographic bloc except for white southerners, Steele's election seemed to raise the possibility of building a more moderate, inclusive GOP.
But Friday's proceedings also revealed the intraparty divisions that may stifle his efforts to revitalize the party's political operations over the next two years. Steele's past involvement with the Republican Leadership Council, a socially moderate political action committee, seemed to be very much on the minds of the social conservatives in attendance, who had mostly rallied around the candidacies of Dawson and incumbent chairman Mike Duncan.
There's "not a problem with [Steele's] own stances [on social issues] so much as the groups he was affiliated with," said Steve Scheffler, a national committeeman from
As party officials and volunteers devoured trays of cookies between the third and fourth rounds of voting, I spoke with a committeewoman from a southern state who echoed these concerns. On condition of anonymity, she admitted she still had strong reservations about Steele's conservative credentials and was pledging her support to
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