Exchanging ideas from the show and blogging about topics in the news from a range of perspectives.
January 5, 2009
Marisa Tomei's Quiet Comeback by Jeremy Freed
Along with countless others, I first noticed Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinnie, in which she played a sassy Italian-American with the comical name Mona Lisa Vito. The movie itself was hilarious, and her performance was absolutely first-rate, earning her a Supporting Actress Oscar. Tomei's beauty was immediately obvious, but her chops as an actor suggested big things.
After winning the highest honor in American cinema in one of her first feature roles, Tomei's career, which initially showed so much promise, seemed to slow. She appeared in a number of films and TV shows, including a cameo on Seinfeld where she went on an ill-fated date with George Costanza, but few of these roles allowed her talents to surface to their full extent. With a couple of notable exceptions (her performance in 2001's In the Bedroom, for one), Tomei faded from the public eye, somewhat.
Then, last year, she reappeared. Of course, she had never been gone officially, but it felt like she had. InBefore the Devil Knows You're Dead, opposite heavyweights Albert Finney and Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tomei shone more brightly than she had in any film in years. Playing the depressed and disillusioned wife to Hoffman's drug-addicted white collar criminal husband, Tomei brought back all of the quiet intensity she had been seemingly holding back all these years. It should also be noted that Tomei, who spent a good deal of the film topless, looked as stunning as she did back in 1992.
Her latest role, opposite Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler is a more than adequate follow-up. Just as in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Tomei's performance is earnest, nuanced and intense. Oddly (but not by any means objectionably), she also spends much of her screentime topless in this one, too.
Much has been made of the comeback of Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler, but Tomei's comeback, already underway, is just as noteworthy.
Tavis' discussion with former Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon did much to reinforce in my mind a strong conviction that Israel's current campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza is not only justified, but necessary.
As calls continue to come from across North America and Europe for Israel to cease its attacks on Gaza, it is important to understand just what Israel's intentions are in the region. Ayalon gave voice to this, and described, in what seemed very reasonable terms, Israel's need to do everything in its power to prevent Hamas from arming itself further and carrying out more and wider-ranging rocket attacks on Israeli civilians.
Hamas' actions, which Ayalon described as using Palestinian civilians as “human shields,” are incredibly cowardly. They do not recognize Israel's right to exist and openly seek the same ends infamously stated by Iran, to wipe the country off the map. They would have to be completely insane to think that this would at all be possible. Taking on Israel's formidable military on the battlefield is hardly an option for the beleaguered organization, so what do they expect to achieve from attacking civilian targets?
As the governing body of Palestine, Hamas has a responsibility to protect and enrich the lives of its citizens. To say nothing of their choice to elect a terrorist organization to power, the people of Gaza should be able to expect at least this from their leaders. Instead, Hamas chooses to fight a futile war in which Palestinian civilians are pawns, their suffering traded for sympathy on satellite TV.
Israel's response, which Ayalon stressed, has been restrained to minimize civilian casualties, seems like the only reasonable one in this situation. The ongoing death and suffering of innocent Palestinians is abhorrent, and the Palestinians' death toll is greater than the Israelis', but this is not a question of numbers. So long as Hamas continues its stated purpose to do everything it can to terrorize Israel, the country is fully justified in responding with violence.
Those who have observed the situation in Israel and Palestine over the years could be forgiven for losing hope. As long as Hamas is in power, Palestinians will remain downtrodden, their lives and prospects for stability sold cheaply for no apparent gain.
President-elect Obama makes history! Well, not in the way you think. It seems that the president-elect is going to be featured in an edition of The Amazing Spider-Man. Presidents have always made it into the history books, but a comic book? Can you believe it? It looks like Obama's going Marvel.
This isn't the first time a U.S. president has appeared in a comic book. In fact, presidents from FDR to Jimmy Carter have been inducted into the pages of comic books. Some have been given top honors, like John F. Kennedy, who not only met Superman in numerous editions of the comic, but even learned of his secret identity.
Pop culture has always blended real-world figures with comic book heroes. And pop culture has always merged with certain phenomena that have swept a country. One of my favorite comic book crossovers is the classic Superman vs. Muhammad Ali comic. Definitely pop culture at its finest.
I'm not one to give away a storyline plot, but I'll definitely say, in the upcoming Spider-Man comic, the Web slinger steps in to give the president-elect a little help. For comic book fans, this is sure to be a must-have item.
There's no telling where the soon-to-be president will be showing up next. Even if you're not a comic book fan, this edition is sure to be a pop culture collector's item. The Amazing Spider-Man #583 from Marvel Comics will be released January 14. Get your hands on one if you can.
For a certain generation, at a certain time in their lives, if you felt a certain way about a certain someone that you knew, but didn't know quite how to say it, there was really only one thing to do: You made them a mix tape.
You'd put your favorite songs on there to tell them a little bit about you, and how cool you were, and then you'd put some songs on there to suggest—ever so casually—the thing that you wanted most to say, usually “Oh gosh, I just think you're the greatest…” Or something like that.
Nowadays nobody bothers with mix tapes anymore. Mix CDs even seem to have fallen out of favor. Now the delivery vehicle of choice for those oh-so-delicate messages is the playlist.
Can I tell you a secret? Canada really really likes Obama and is making him, like, the most awesome playlist ever.
It's kind of like one of those really trendy car insurance quotes commercials. You know the gecko for Geico? Obama is just that hip!
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which is Canada's version of NPR, is in the process of putting together a playlist for the president elect. The songs (49 of them from north of the 49th parallel… get it?) will be nominated by listeners, and selected by an online vote.
The votes have been pouring in since the beginning of January, and the winners will be announced on January 20th when the playlist is presented to the new president. For weeks now, people have been calling and emailing in their picks for songs to tell Obama about Canada and how they, as a country, feel about him.
As a Canadian citizen I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I do happen to really like Obama, and would like the opportunity to tell him so. On the other hand, I'm a little concerned this makes us look like that awkward 14-year-old girl with a crush on the most popular guy in school who is just totally out of our league.
So now the question is, when he comes over, like, should we ask him if he thinks we're cool or whatever?
And just when you thought your legislature didn't know you were alive, Congress up and went to YouTube. The House and Senate now have "hubs" on YouTube, with congressional committee channels and a map to help you find the channel for your senator or representative.
The channels are very obviously still a work-in-progress. A search for senators representing California, for example, only returns a channel for Sen. Dianne Feinstein and a search for California representatives returns channels for 17 of the 53 districts in the state. I also noticed that some of the videos leave much to be desired.
But I'm not complaining. My government is actually trying to communicate with me on a platform where I actually spend (way too much) time? I'll take it.
A Barack Obama bobblehead doll in the window of a souvenir shop near the White House.
It's an awesome opportunity to be in Washington, DC as the administration of the 44th President of the United States is ushered in.There are already tons of hats, bobble head dolls, watches, sweatshirts and just about anything else you can imagine with Obama's name on it. There's so much Obama merchandise out here that the sales alone are helping to stimulate small businesses within the economy. The return numbers on official sales alone in D.C. are pretty interesting.
The next few days will undoubtedly be a whirlwind of events. Many people are working around the clock to ensure that plans run smoothly to bring in the next U.S. president's inauguration. Mayor Adrian Fenty of the District of Columbia is working to prepare for the 1 to 2.5 million visitors coming to the area to take in the historic event.
Everyone from Hollywood celebrities and foreign news correspondents, to journalists and entire families, are heading to the city over the next few days. It's sure to be a spectacular event that many people won't want to miss out on.
So, no matter if you reside in Silver Spring, MD or the heart of the city, you can't deny that Obama fever has come to Washington D.C.
I figured the weekend before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and the inauguration of the nation's first African American president would be the perfect time to address this notion of a "post-racial era" that has been talked about since President-elect Obama came on the scene.
Actually, all I want to say is that we are not, I repeat, not, post-racial. And if you don't believe me, I created a little list for you.
5. On New Year's Day, Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old unarmed Black man was fatally shot in the back by a White transit police officer as Grant lay face down on the BART subway platform in Oakland, CA. Subway passengers captured the shooting on cell phone cameras, and protesters have taken to the streets of Oakland to express their outrage. The officer has pleaded not guilty to murder charges.
4. As the murder rate among young Whites has not grown or declined in some parts of the country, the murder rate among Black teenagers is on the rise.
3. Our melting pot of a nation is still trying to figure out “what to do” with its fastest-growing segment—the Latino population. The idea that we need to do something with a segment of our society is baffling. Further, the country has been so concerned with building a fence to keep out all of those “illegal immigrants” from Mexico, that, in the process, we've caused significant environmental damage along the U.S.-Mexico border.
2. A new report shows that Black and Latino drivers are eight times more likely than White drivers to be stopped by the NYPD.
1. And my favorite: During the holiday season, Chip Saltsman, a candidate for the RNC chair, sent committee members a CD that included a song called “Barack, the Magic Negro.” The “Magic Negro” song, which was originally played on Rush Limbaugh's show, includes writer Paul Shanklin pretending to be Al Sharpton in an Amos & Andy-type voice chastising guilty Whites for supporting Obama. If it sounds stupid, well, that's because it is.
And just for fun, here is 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan's take on our post-racial society.
“Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.”
It was a forceful and, at times, somber speech (full text here).
But the part that meant the most to me, and what I know much of the world was waiting to hear, was when President Obama said this:
“As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.”
• Change.gov, the widely popular web site for the Obama transition team, redirects visitors to the new WhiteHouse.gov site, which looks a lot like the Change.gov site. WhiteHouse.gov has a placeholder for President Obama's weekly address and offers a blog and overviews of the Obama-Biden foreign and domestic agenda.
• President Obama's first official act was to issue a proclamation: “NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 20, 2009, a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation, and call upon all of our citizens to serve one another and the common purpose of remaking this Nation for our new century.”
President Barack Obama signed an executive order today that calls for the U.S. military detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to be closed within a year.
As I mentioned in a post earlier this month, human rights organizations were pushing for President Obama to use his first week in office to address the Bush administration's detention policies.
One group even created a clock to count down the days until President Bush left office, and to count up the number of days that it took President Obama to sign an executive order regarding Gitmo. After today's order, they stopped the clock.
And that's not all.
Obama banned torture by directing the C.I.A. to use the Army field manual as a guide for interrogating terrorism suspects. He also directed the C.I.A. to shut down its secret prison network, and he established a task force to review detention policies and individual cases.
And this is just his first week on the job. I'm certainly interested in seeing what he does next week.
(NOTE: Some people use the phrase “enhanced interrogation methods.” I use the term “torture.” Let's call it what it is.)
Didn't you think that yesterday's inauguration resembled a wedding? Not that it was the first inauguration filled with formality and symbolism. Inaugurations, by their very design, are filled with formality and symbolism.
But President Obama's inauguration was closely watched by people all over the world. Every move, every word and every gesture were scrutinized, digested and analyzed for their ability to tell us what the next four (probably eight) years will be like.
The oath of office was the wedding vow. The post-inaugural luncheon was the wedding reception, with President Obama working the room. The Obamas' "first dance" as President and First Lady was set to Beyonce's version of the Etta James hit "At Last," which is played at many wedding receptions (including my own). Need I mention the 100-day "honeymoon?"
But if we uphold the metaphor of the inauguration being a wedding of sorts, then who got married? I found a great article on inaugurations, which argues that the inaugural "wedding" is between the President and the People.
I think I like that idea. I, for one, plan to be a supportive and active partner. But I won't hold back on the complaints.
I am beyond joy when it comes to the essence of what Barack Obama's victory and presence as commander-in-chief in the Oval Office means to America. I am amazed at the international excitement and enthusiasm his position in the White House means for this country and how it is viewed. While I personally believed for a long time that an African American could and would become president, I was in awe to see the numbers of voters who turned out in support of Obama's message along with the millions of people who came out to the National Mall to be a part of history.
During the campaign season, it was invigorating to see the level of energy and excitement within the country surrounding the former Senator from Illinois.
That being said, it is absolutely wild to see Obama's face everywhere I go. Everything from TV commercials, magazines, signs, purses, shoes, and even sweaters have Obama's name or face on it. I even saw Obama water for sale.
While watching a recentepisode of Access Hollywood however I got a bit concerned. Access Hollywood went as far as to hire models and dress them in an evening gown and tuxedo comparable to the one President Obama and the First Lady wore during Inauguration night. They seriously even brought in an entire group of people to portray the first family out with the same clothes they've worn before. That's when I started thinking to myself, “that's way too much”.
I personally think it's great that so many people are invigorated and passionate about President Obama and it exciting to have a world leader who so many people look to without being the focus of attention on next week's edition of Entertainment Tonight. Hopefully the media attention surrounding this charismatic leader will reach a point where things settle down some.
Is the entertainment world going overboard with the coverage of President Obama?
“No Republican in the House voted to pass the economic stimulus. Quite frankly, I think it was an unnecessary act of partisan politics.”
An $825 billion stimulus was passed this week to help America's economy. By now, everyone realizes the severity of America's economic condition. What's more surprising is how much bipartisan support the bill received—none. No Republican in the House voted to pass the economic stimulus. Quite frankly, I think it was an unnecessary act of partisan politics.
So, let me get this straight. When one of the biggest financial disasters to ever hit the U.S. occurred, the biggest one since the Great Depression, every single Republican decided that the proposed solution was no good?
To me, it seems as though at the one moment where coming together and working to solve our nation's problems collectively made sense, the other team dropped the ball.
That doesn't say too much in terms of independence of thought. Republicans, Independents and Democrats alike, no matter what party affiliation, are in need of some kind of help. When the country loses more than 100,000 jobs in a week, that's got to make any sane-minded person stop and think.
The current commander in chief ran a campaign partly on the idea of bipartisanship. He spoke about not running away from an idea because it didn't come from a Democratic or Republican colleague. Those sentiments seem to be lost on the current Republicans in D.C.
We have an enormous amount of issues ahead of us that are still going to need a great deal of support in order to solve. This whole political game of “my way or the highway” must end. There's too much at stake now.
Did you really think that Sarah Palin was going away? The Alaska governor has created a political action committee - SarahPAC - keeping her on the national political scene and signaling a possible presidential bid in 2012. Sigh.
I suppose you must look beyond the fact that Palin's real-life shenanigans were just as funny as the SNL spoofs of her incoherent answers during media interviews. You must keep in mind that she was the first woman to be on a Republican White House ticket. That's worth a political action committee, at least, right?
“A state legislature vote of 59-0, saying they want you out, is no joke.”
After numerous attempts to plead his case, FBI wire taps, and the appointment of a new U.S. senator, Rod Blagojevich is no longer governor of Illinois.
The embattled politician was under scrutiny and suspicion for allegedly attempting to sell the then vacant U.S. senate seat formerly held by President Barack Obama.
Republicans and Democrats within the Illinois legislature unanimously voted Blagojevich out. Did the bipartisan vote in the Illinois legislature send a clear message to the former governor? I'm not sure, but a state legislature vote of 59-0, saying they want you out, is no joke.
It was interesting to see in the Illinois senate how the idea of partisan bickering went right out the window where the issue of Blagojevich was concerned. It would have been great to have seen the same level of bipartisan support and decision-making on Capitol Hill with respect to the stimulus vote.
I recently came across the trailer for a movie called Black Dynamite, which is unlike any other I've ever seen. Well, it's a lot like a lot of other movies I've seen, but that's more or less the point.
A classic parody, Black Dynamite appears to do for the blaxploitation genre what Airplane! did for disaster movies. That is, it takes all the classic elements of the genre—Kung-Fu, pimps, platform shoes, The Man—and mocks them mercilessly and hilariously.
Making fun of blaxploitation hardly seems much of a challenge, given that movies like Shaft and Superfly, with their stilted dialogue, over-the-top costumes, and ridiculously low production values, now tend to elicit laughter themselves. But that doesn't mean it's easy. Movies like Pootie Tang and Undercover Brother, which have attempted to draw comedy from blaxploitation's motifs, have achieved a less than classic effect themselves.
Pootie Tang ended up being more-or-less dependent for laughs on its title character's trademark gibberish, while Undercover Brother has some funny gags, but not much plot to speak of. This movie, from the trailers, anyway, seems to have succeeded where those two fell short.
In an LA Times interview, the film's director Scott Sanders, and co-writer and star Michael Jai White reveal an immense knowledge of their medium, and offer a glimpse of their thorough understanding of what makes films like this work—and more importantly, what makes them funny.
But is America ready to laugh at such racially-charged jokes about pimps in fur coats and ghettoes overrun with drugs? Has the kind of African American disillusionment that played a central role to these films disappeared entirely?
What do you think? Is the movie celebrating blaxploitation, mocking it, or both? Will you go see it?
David Cay Johnston's description on Friday's program of the ever-widening gap between rich and poor in America hit me hard.
According to Johnston, the bottom 90% of Americans made the same amount of money in 2006 that they did in 1980, while the top 10% saw their incomes rise to unprecedented levels. Johnston went on to say that the wealth of the 300,000 best-off Americans was now equal to the wealth of the poorest 150,000,000. Those figures are staggering.
The Federal minimum wage is $6.55, which comes out to about $13,000 a year for someone working full time, before taxes. Dick Fuld, the infamous ousted head of Lehman Brothers, made more than $35,000,000 in 2005, and he was by no means alone. These are extreme comparisons, granted, but they point to just what Mr. Johnston suggests—that the gap between rich and poor in America is big and growing bigger.
Our president has a plate full of responsibility. Or, perhaps to put it in more accurate terms, his plate is full, and he's got the whole buffet to get through after that. As Tamika discussed last week, he is already taking decisive action on Guantanamo, which is a very good start. But poverty—the kind that sees children without medical care and access to affordable higher education—that is the kind of issue that effects everyone, either directly or indirectly. It's what holds us back as a nation and what must be changed for America to reclaim its place as a leader of the free world.
Elizabeth Alexander was only the fourth poet to recite a poem at an inauguration (Robert Frost, Maya Angelou and Miller Williams were the others).
Alexander is now pretty famous - for a poet. With that fame has come some criticism of “Praise Song for the Day.”
One critic wrote, “Her poem was too much like prose, her delivery insufficiently dramatic.”
Nonetheless, Graywolf Press is releasing a commemorative “chapbook” edition of the poem on February 6th (I've pre-ordered mine already), and our country will probably go back to not noticing poetry.
“The very clever folks at Talk Show with Spike Feresten thought that warm familiar feeling was just a bit too familiar.”
If I may, I'd like to take a break from "Obamamania: The First 100 Days" and direct your attention to something of equal importance. Well, if not equal importance, then at least worth a chuckle and an incredulous shake of the head.
You may have seen the new Brad Pitt/Cate Blanchett Oscar-bait vehicle, The Curse of Benjamin Button. It was written by Eric Roth, the screenwriter who penned classic Hollywood blockbusters like Ali and Munich, among others. He is probably best known, however, for a little film called Forrest Gump, which he wrote, and was nominated for 13 Academy Awards in 1994, winning six of them (including one for his screenplay).
By all accounts, with its heartwarming mix of medical mystery and epic decades-spanning love story, Benjamin Button is supposed to be quite good. It's been winning solid reviews, and leaving audiences with that warm, familiar feeling of the quirky-yet-heartwarming-big-budget-Hollywood-love-story.
And yet... The very clever folks at Talk Show with Spike Feresten thought that warm familiar feeling was just a bit too familiar. See below.
Well, I'll be! Looks like Mr. Eric Roth thought he'd just slip one by us and recycle something he'd already written. Good thing most people are too smart to notice that sort of thing. Really, they're not? Well, certainly the academy would notice... they can't give the same guy the same Oscar for the same film twice... Can they?
I don't know what to believe anymore. But Benjamin Button is up for 13 Oscars this year (including one for Roth's screenplay), and I am having this distinct feeling of deja vu.
Millions from across the globe came to Washington D.C. to take part in the historic swearing in of the 44th President of the United States.
I made it to DC for the inauguration, and it was great! There was so much buzz and anticipation, so much excitement, so many expectations, it was hard to believe this was actually taking place. The temperature outside was extremely cold, but the spirit of the people on Inauguration Day was extraordinarily warm.
People braved cold temperatures and long lines to be a part of history yesterday morning. Scores of people from across the country came to celebrate the inauguration of Barack H. Obama. Entire generations of families, along with men and women from all walks of life, braved the weather and long lines to experience this extraordinary event.
Some arrived on the National Mall at 4 a.m. to get their place before the morning's activities began. Scores of Americans, from the Midwest to the Southeast, engulfed the streets wearing everything from buttons to t-shirts bearing Obama's name.
Buses from across the country were in route over the past few days to DC, and traffic was moving slowly. The average wait time for a taxi was anywhere from 25 minutes to 3 hours, yet the mood of people was upbeat and friendly. Shortly after 12:00 EST, the 44th president had been sworn in.
After the morning luncheons and presidential parade, men grabbed their tuxedos while women donned their evening gowns. It was time for the inaugural galas. Everyone from business leaders to members of Congress and key political figures were all on hand to take in the festivities. The celebratory crowd cheered and danced the night away, including the country's new commander in chief.
As the late night carried on and the early morning began to approach, the parties eventually died down. People began to pack up their bags and take one last glimpse at the city where history was made, before returning to home.
Workers began to fill the streets and clean up the debris from all of the festivities. The sun had finally set on a day so many had dreamt of being a part of. A new day had come not only to Washington, but to the world.
I was so humbled to be in DC to take part in this extraordinary experience. January 20, 2009 will be a day most people won't soon forget. After the nation took a day to reflect and celebrate the life and vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, America now stands ready to enter a new chapter in its history. This chapter will hopefully be one of service, leadership, optimism and positive change.
I have so many things to say about this inauguration (which is still underway) that I thought I'd just keep a list.
• If I had have planned the inauguration, instead of putting Dustin Hoffman, Steven Spielberg and Donna Brazile in the VIP section, I would have reserved that section instead for teachers, firefighters, Iraq war veterans and factory workers.
• It's a great day to be working in private security. According to a Washington Post article from last week, “Building guards will be earning weekend and holiday pay and lots of overtime as hotels, office buildings, museums and other venues are kept open for events or locked down. Executive security details will be working nearly around the clock guarding VIPs.”
• Twelve American presidents owned slaves. Eight of those presidents owned slaves while in office—George Washington (1789 - 97), Thomas Jefferson (1801 - 09), James Madison (1809 - 17), James Monroe (1817 - 25), Andrew Jackson (1829 - 37), John Tyler (1841 - 45), James K. Polk (1845 - 49) and Zachary Taylor (1849 - 50). Further, slaves helped to build the White House that the Obamas are moving into today.
When President-elect Barack Obama appeared on ABC News' This Week on Sunday, it was seven years to the day that the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba opened.
Obama had this to say about closing the facility:
OBAMA: It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize and we are going to get it done but part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom who may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication. And some of the evidence against them may be tainted even though it's true. And so how to balance creating a process that adheres to rule of law, habeas corpus, basic principles of Anglo American legal system, by doing it in a way that doesn't result in releasing people who are intent on blowing us up.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: So not necessarily first 100 days.
OBAMA: That's a challenge. I think it's going to take some time and our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to help design exactly what we need to do. But I don't want to be ambiguous about this. We are going to close Guantanamo and we are going to make sure that the procedures we set up are ones that abide by our constitution. That is not only the right thing to do, but it actually has to be part of our broader national security strategy because we will send a message to the world that we are serious about our values.
This recent report by the Brookings Institution supports Obama's claim that closing the facility is an involved process.
But Obama's lack of a promise to close the facility in the first 100 days of his administration is not good enough for some people.
Difficult process or not, some argue that each day that an Obama administration keeps the detention facility open is another day that human rights are not upheld and another day that the United States sends the wrong message to the international community.
Critics are urging Americans to keep in mind that there are about 250 men still detained at the facility, about “60 detainees have already been cleared for release or transfer but remain because they cannot be returned home,” and one detainee, Omar Khadr, was 15 years old when he was brought to the facility, and his trial is scheduled to begin just six days after Obama is sworn in.
If Obama does not halt Khadr's trial proceedings, as human rights activists, child advocates and some foreign leaders have urged, he would become the first U.S. president to prosecute a child soldier for war crimes.
On Sunday the National Religious Campaign Against Torture started a “Countdown to End Torture” clock, which will count down the days and hours until Obama's first day in office. At 9 a.m. EST on January 21, the clock will begin to “count up” until Obama signs an executive order ending torture.
By Monday, it seemed Team Obama had heard the grumblings of its critics. Obama transition officials said that he would close the detention center “as early as his first week” in office—a more specific timeline than what he gave Stephanopoulos on Sunday.
Will Obama do it? Will he close Guantanamo in a few weeks?
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