The New York Times Editorial Board:
President Obama’s speech today was the most important statement on counterterrorism policy since the 2001 attacks, a momentous turning point in post-9/11 America. For the first time, a president stated clearly and unequivocally that the state of perpetual warfare that began nearly 12 years ago is unsustainable for a democracy and must come to an end in the not-too-distant future.
Without admitting any mistakes on his part or any personal overreach, the president basically rebuked twelve years of U.S. counterterrorism policy today and mapped out a road to a sane and much more sustainable future. It was what most of us hoped we would get four years ago, but some of us never wavered in our faith that this is where the president’s real sympathies lay.
It hasn’t been easy to stomach some of Obama’s counterterrorism policies over the last four and a half years, and sometimes it seemed like he was going to permanently institute some of Bush and Cheney’s worst legacies. Knowing that the alternative was immeasurably worse was often slim solace.
I weathered through it, having a firm but unprovable conviction that most of the worst that I was witnessing was seen as necessary to secure reelection and prevent a restoration of the truly insane and dangerous policies now current in the neo-fascist Republican Party.
His speech today was carefully crafted, but reading between the lines it is clear that he thinks many of the policies that he himself has pursued are misguided, dangerous, unsustainable, and need to stop. I agree. I have agreed through gritted teeth for more than four years.
Turning the ship of state around without being battered on the shoals was an incredible task to ask of anyone. We saw the resistance to the obvious move of closing Gitmo and holding civilians trials. We can only imagine the backlash that would have occurred had Obama actually tried to hold people legally accountable for what they did during the Bush years. Through it all, I had faith that I had pegged this man correctly and that he shared my values.
He has three and a half years to unravel what it took eleven years to create. I don’t know of a single individual in this country who I could better trust to execute the mission.
