Barack Obama, Politics

Obama: Starting to Get the Hang of This Whole 'Prejudging' Thing

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President Obama seems to have made up his mind about the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed circus trial that will be coming to a New York courthouse near you. The Associate Press reports (gavel bang: ABA Journal):

Obama, in a series of TV interviews during his trip to Asia, said those offended by the legal rights accorded Mohammed by virtue of his facing a civilian trial rather than a military tribunal won’t find it “offensive at all when he’s convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him.”

I’ve argued that Obama isn’t as cool as everybody makes him out to be, but that was certainly some cold-ass rhetoric. “[W]hen the death penalty is applied to him”? Damn brother, you sending in the Wolf too?
Of course, after the jump, the lawyer part of Obama’s brain kicks in and he backpedals like a professional cornerback.


Obama tried to tell everybody that they didn’t hear what they just heard:

Obama, who is a lawyer, quickly added that he did not mean to suggest he was prejudging the outcome of Mohammed’s trial. “I’m not going to be in that courtroom,” he said. “That’s the job of the prosecutors, the judge and the jury.”

These aren’t the droids you’re looking for. He can go about his business. Move along.
Luckily, Barry Kenobi’s mistake probably won’t matter in the end:

Historians and a legal ethicist said they don’t expect Obama’s remark to affect Mohammed’s trial but called the president’s comments ill-advised. The head of a defense lawyers organization said Obama made the hard job of finding an impartial jury tougher.

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I don’t believe in the death penalty. I don’t think the state should be involved in killing anyone, especially a state that can’t figure out how to make sure the quality of your defense doesn’t change if you are rich or poor. I think the death penalty is barbaric and has no place in civilized society … but I hope they put Mohammed’s execution on television so I can enjoy the event with nachos and beer. I guess I’ll just have to tip my cap and call the Leviathan my Daddy.
There is no way Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is making it out of New York alive. None. Obama was just stating the obvious.
Obama, revisiting Nixon, says 9/11 suspect guilty [Associated Press]
Like Nixon, Obama Has an Opinion on the Guilt of a Suspect [ABA Journal]

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