Former secretary of defense Robert Gates attributed the lack of outrage among Democrats over the revelation that the president has targeted American citizens with his drone program to “politics.”
Asked about the conspicuous silence among many who condemned the Bush administration for authorizing the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, Gates said, “I think a lot of our political leaders have no problem talking out of both sides of their mouths when it comes to issues like these.”
On the campaign trail in 2008, then-Senator Obama said in an interview with the Boston Globe that he rejected the view that the president can do whatever he deems necessary to protect national security: “I reject the use of signing statements to make extreme and implausible claims of presidential authority,” he explained. As a result, he argued that the president may not detain Americans without charges as unlawful enemy combatants.
Obama also rejected the idea that the president can authorize the use of torture, including waterboarding. ”In my view,” he said, “torture is unconstitutional.”
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