<story><title>No One Reads Kafka At Gitmo</title><url>https://medium.com/editors-picks/6076fd7f2500</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jacquesm</author><text>The fact that Guantanamo still exists is an absolute blight on Americas reputation and the cost of that will resonate for many many years into the future even if it were disbanded today (which it really should be). Obama claims his hands are tied but to me that smacks of a lack of resolve, he has several options at his disposal (such as threatening to resign if congress won&amp;#x27;t bend on this or playing hardball in return on every other subject). It&amp;#x27;s a pity that America is so tied to the 4 year regimen for elections and that the president does not have a direct way to call for earlier elections (as far as I know).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>VLM</author><text>&amp;quot;Obama claims his hands are tied&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Its a pity he&amp;#x27;s not Commander in Chief of the military.  Then he could issue orders to soldiers in charge of a military facility.  Perhaps whoever is the Commander in Chief should step forward and solve the problem.&lt;p&gt;I am well aware of the true arguments that he would be unable to defund or outright eliminate the facility, Congress would have to do that.  It is WELL within his ability to, say, directly order all prisoners released, or order all troops to leave the facility and no troops to re-enter the facility.</text></comment>
<story><title>No One Reads Kafka At Gitmo</title><url>https://medium.com/editors-picks/6076fd7f2500</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jacquesm</author><text>The fact that Guantanamo still exists is an absolute blight on Americas reputation and the cost of that will resonate for many many years into the future even if it were disbanded today (which it really should be). Obama claims his hands are tied but to me that smacks of a lack of resolve, he has several options at his disposal (such as threatening to resign if congress won&amp;#x27;t bend on this or playing hardball in return on every other subject). It&amp;#x27;s a pity that America is so tied to the 4 year regimen for elections and that the president does not have a direct way to call for earlier elections (as far as I know).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>MichaelSalib</author><text>&lt;i&gt;that smacks of a lack of resolve&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is what political scientists call &amp;quot;green lanternism&amp;quot;. That&amp;#x27;s the phrase they use to make fun of people like you, i.e., people who insist that leaders can break institutional constraints by sheer force of will whenever they please. American government is complex and has a great many more veto points than peer governments. This complexity is annoying, so there&amp;#x27;s a natural tendency to just wish it all away and assert that the President can do whatever he wants.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;(such as threatening to resign&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is this a joke? Do you not understand that Obama resigning is the best possible outcome for the  majority of the House and almost a majority of the Senate? You can&amp;#x27;t credibly threaten someone by offering to do something they desperately want you to do. You understand that, right?&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;if congress won&amp;#x27;t bend on this or playing hardball in return on every other subject&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Senate has voted 98-0 against transferring Gitmo detainees to the US. I don&amp;#x27;t think they&amp;#x27;d vote so strongly against Hitler. Congressmen have decided that having Gitmo detainees in the US is political suicide. Whether they&amp;#x27;re wrong about that is irrelevant.</text></comment>