Via JWF, I’m torn. On the one hand, he’s a rare lefty who’s unwilling to pull his punches against a fellow traveler, even one with his own progressive/media cult. On the other hand, he’s capable of feats of such breathtaking douchebaggery that the thought of congratulating him for intellectual consistency makes me feel clammy.

From health care to torture to the economy to war, Obama has reneged on pledges real and implied. So timid and so owned is he that he trembles in fear of offending, of all things, the government of Turkey. Obama has officially reneged on his campaign promise to acknowledge the Armenian genocide. When a president doesn’t have the nerve to annoy the Turks, why does he bother to show up for work in the morning?

Obama is useless. Worse than that, he’s dangerous. Which is why, if he has any patriotism left after the thousands of meetings he has sat through with corporate contributors, blood-sucking lobbyists and corrupt politicians, he ought to step down now — before he drags us further into the abyss.

I refer here to Obama’s plan for “preventive detentions.” If a cop or other government official thinks you might want to commit a crime someday, you could be held in “prolonged detention.” Reports in U.S. state-controlled media imply that Obama’s shocking new policy would only apply to Islamic terrorists (or, in this case, wannabe Islamic terrorists, and also kinda-sorta-maybe-thinking-about-terrorism dudes). As if that made it OK…

Obama is cute. He is charming. But there is something rotten inside him. Unlike the Republicans who backed George W. Bush, I won’t follow a terrible leader just because I voted for him. Obama has revealed himself. He is a monster, and he should remove himself from power.

Rall’s solution for detainees who can’t be prosecuted: Set ’em free, a masterstroke that would make the world considerably more dangerous for Americans and guarantee landslides for the Republicans he hates well into the next decade. I wonder which of those two weighs most heavily in The One’s mind. Exit question: Is this just Rall being Rall or does it signal a rising groundswell of opposition on the left to preventive detention? I can’t believe they’ll have the stones to pressure Obama on this knowing what the consequences of releasing people like KSM would be, although insofar as it would make The One look strong and “centrist” on national security, having a fight with progressives over detention wouldn’t be a bad idea for him.