Sometimes Even Your Heroes Let You Down

From today's New York Times coverage of the Supreme Court’s last-week docket:

"Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, said, 'I think that the rape of a small child, 6 or 8 years old, is a heinous crime, and if a state makes a decision under narrow, limited, well-defined circumstances, that the death penalty is at least potentially applicable, that does not violate our Constitution.' He added that the Supreme Court should have set conditions for imposing the death penalty for the crime, 'but it basically had a blanket prohibition, and I disagree with the decision.'"

It is completely vexing to me to ruminate on the fact that Senator Barack Obama is not unequivocally against capital punishment. It's the kinda thing, I daydream that the Senator would be elected President, and on January 10 would hold a big press conference:

President Obama: "Aight folks, here's the lowdown. I had to say I respected the death penalty while running for President - I had to fight fuckin Hillary Clinton in the primary and Old Man McCain in the general! Of course I'm a no-holes-barred abolitionist who will work tirelessly to rid this beautiful country of this barbaric practice."

But that's not gonna happen. Barack Obama believes that there are certain crimes so heinous as to warrant the state to put the perpetrator to death. I guess what really perplexes me is why Obama would think this. On so many other issues he's in such perfect lock-step with (my own) liberal ideology - and here he just takes a hard turn to the right (or center as it might be...). Maybe I could understand it better had Obama been a prosecutor or a public defendant – but he was a professor of Constitutional law. A Columbia graduate and a Harvard man!

But let’s all rejoice! Because where Senator Obama comes up short, surprisingly enough the Supreme Court takes a bold stand! All hail Justice Kennedy for this 5-4 decision saying that you cannot kill someone for a crime such as rape. Put ‘em away for life, without parole.

Now reading: “Chapter House: Dune” Frank Herbert
Now Playing: “LP3” Ratatat

And for your viewing pleasure, some Midsummer pics! My only regret is that I didn't manage to get any good snaps of the drunken old man next door to our cabin, who me and Henrik hung out with for an hour on his porch drinking beer and talking about welding!