Where do these developments leave Holder, for whom failure is not only an option but a habit? A recent profile by Wil Hylton in GQ magazine attempts to put his tenure in the best possible light – the lonely, naive man of principle undone by politics. But the portrait is unintentionally devastating. Holder clearly views the war on terrorism as a distraction. “The biggest surprise I’ve had in this job,” he told Hylton, “is how much time the national security issues take.”
He was oblivious to predictable reactions in the Mohammed case. “The political furor that erupted next,” says the article, “took Holder completely by surprise.” The attorney general has been stripped of authority over the trial venue by the White House. And Holder’s unshakable legal principles, it turns out, were more like poses…
Holder clearly believes that his virtue was violated by politics. But there is a better explanation. President Obama’s undeniable continuity in conducting the war on terrorism – the use of indefinite detention, Guantanamo Bay and targeted killing of terrorists – reflects the continuity of the threat. These measures did not result from some anti-constitutional ideology. They were difficult, conflicted but reasonable responses to an ongoing terrorist offensive – a war that is more than a metaphor.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member