It's a common theme with this president. He just doesn't seem willing to fight....

the lack of fight on the part of the Obama administration was becoming apparent. As the New York Times reported in June of 2010: "'There is a lot of inertia' against closing the prison, 'and the administration is not putting a lot of energy behind their position that I can see,' said Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and supports the Illinois plan. He added that 'the odds are that it will still be open' by the next presidential inauguration."

With little pressure coming from the White House, Congressional Democrats decided it's not worth sticking their necks out to help close Gitmo, either....

, there are still 166 detainees at Gitmo - 87 of whom are approved for release but are barred from being released. Four detainees have died at the facility since President Obama took office. And currently, five Gitmo detainees, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, are facing a military trial at the facility that's fraught with questions about torture and frequently interrupted by a "censor button" that cuts off audio and video of the trial to reporters and the media. Gitmo remains a moral black-eye on the United States, and a terrorist recruiting tool abroad.

Which brings us to today's news....

This week, we learned that Fried was reassigned to do work for the State Department on Iran and Syria. His special envoy post devoted to closing Gitmo will not be filled. It will disappear, and its vacancy will be more confirmation that President Obama never had the stomach for this fight to begin with.....

But, as we've seen with the public option, cap-and-trade, the DISCLOSE Act, the Bush tax cuts, labor struggles in Wisconsin, you name it: when the going gets tough, the president gets going....

[Obama's] content with polishing his progressive legacy through more civil rights victories like the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, by focusing on marriage equality, equal pay for equal work for women and immigration reform, all of which may be regarded in time as historic victories. But in a nation gripped by economic calamity and never-ending wars, the president's focus is, arguably, misguided.

Very very misguided given our unemployment and the stripping of what little the 99% has left.

------------------------

NOTE: the Vine would not permit me to upload a picture of the prisoners at Gitmo--not the first time for such censorship.