LOYAL OPPOSITION

I oppose Barack Obama. My list of reasons is short, and specific: he governs in defiance of the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights, as well as international law.

He continues to run an illegal concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay.

He has not erased George W. Bush's suspension of the right of habeas corpus.

And because we have no right of habeas corpus, he can continue to hold Private Bradley Manning in high security custody. He held Manning in solitary confinement and tortured him for a year; it will soon be two years since Manning's arrest. Obama has already declared that Manning is guilty--"He broke the law," Obama said--though he has not been charged with a crime.

Manning can't be charged with a crime, because had he not done what he allegedly did, he would have committed a very serious crime. Knowing what he knew, to keep that knowledge secret--to continue to cover up deeply criminal acts--would have made him an accessory to those capital crimes.

The one person whose order could stop the violence against Bradley Manning is Obama: he could do that with two words, "Release him." He could also close the illegal torture camp at Guantanamo with two words: "Close it." He could restore the right of habeas corpus--so that what he has done to Manning cannot be done again. He could stop his wars, too--in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in Sudan. And he could stop Israel's imprisonment of what should be Palestine.

But no. Obama has signed himself onto a list of history's ruthless tyrants. To be sure, George Bush was mean, and a liar. Bill Clinton was bright, but venal. And George W. Bush was stupid. But Barack Obama is worse than any of them. Obama is mentally agile, and he knows a lot; but he is cowardly, dishonest, and vicious, and his actions as president are--according to our Constitution--criminal.

He should be impeached, and brought to trial for his crimes.