Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due — To Progressives

Glenn Greenwald finds "more independent progressive thinking in two months than the 'conservative movement' exhibited with regard to Bush in six years" — A Major Difference Between Conservatives and Progressives.

"What about us paleos?" you might ask. Mr. Greenwald reminds us that "conservatives who did object were cast aside as traitors to the cause, and criticisms of the President became equated with an overt lack of patriotism," citing the Podhoretzes, the Frums, the Goldbergs, the Kristols, et. al.. He reminds us that "conservatives who dissented early on from the Bush movement as an assault on their ideological convictions... were a tiny minority (and were cast out of the movement)."

Mr. Greenwlad also acknowledges the "cult-like liberal veneration for Obama" and "Kim Jong Il-like imagery," but notes that "civil libertarian critics of Bush have vehemently criticized the Obama administration for embracing Bush's secrecy theories, shielding government policies (including torture) from judicial review, denying all rights to Bagram detainees, and retaining some of Bush's extreme detention powers," "[f]oreign policy critics have objected to Obama's escalation of our military presence in Afghanistan and drone attacks in Pakistan," and "[e]conomic critics have attacked his bank rescue plan as a sleazy give-away to Wall Street."