Various manics, including the robotic sociopath Mitt Romney have been castigating Obama for apologizing for the US. Many folks
insist that's not true. Here is a
list of the alleged apologies. As I read them, they are examples of Obama saying here is an error we made and we won't make that mistake again. If you think that is an apology fine; if, however,you think it's a bad thing, you're nuts.So, for example, on the whole Guantanamo torture deal, the President argues that
[t]here is also no question that Guantanamo set back the moral
authority that is America's strongest currency in the world.
Instead of building a durable framework for the struggle against al
Qaeda that drew upon our deeply held values and traditions, our
government was defending positions that undermined the rule of law.
In fact, part of the rationale for establishing Guantanamo in the
first place was the misplaced notion that a prison there would be
beyond the law--a proposition that the Supreme Court soundly
rejected. Meanwhile, instead of serving as a tool to counter
terrorism, Guantanamo became a symbol that helped al Qaeda recruit
terrorists to its cause. Indeed, the existence of Guantanamo likely
created more terrorists around the world than it ever detained.
So the record is clear: Rather than keeping us safer, the prison
at Guantanamo has weakened American national security. It is a
rallying cry for our enemies.
As I read it, the Obama is trying, although his failure to close the prison is a real disaster for his presidency, to lay out the reasons why Guantanamo was and is bad. It's not an apology; it's more of an admission of error.
If you watch this video, when MLK gets to a discussion of Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs he lays out the argument for doing what Obama did:
I have to say, I agree and I think it is high time that we went Obama and Kennedy one better and, in fact, as a state learned from our mistakes instead of just insisting we've learned. Besides which, when did dealing with reality become a sign of weakness?