Uh, Good Effort, I Guess...

Crooks & Liars has the video and rough transcript of Barak Obama's speech on the floor from yesterday:

Obama.. that’s a quote. we all know about the recent case of the Canadian man who was suspected of terrorist connections, detaineeed in New York, sent to Syria a rendition agreement, tortured, only to find out later that it was all a case of mistaken identity and poor information. In this war where terrorists can plot undetected from within our borders, it is absolutely vital that our law enforcement agencies are able to detain and interrogate whoever they believe to be a suspect and so it is understandable that mistakes will be made, and identities will be confused.

I don’t blame the government for that. this is an extraordinarily difficult war that we’re prosecuting against terrorists. and there are going to be situations in which we cast too wide a net and capture the wrong person, but what is avoidable is refusing to ever allow our legal system to correct these mistakes mistakes. by giving suspects a chance, even one chance ngs , to challenge the terms of their denengs in court, to — detention in court, to have a judge confirm that the government has detained the right person, we could solve this problem without harming our efforts in the war on terror one bit.

I'm really not sure how I feel about this. As a Chicago resident that voted for Obama, I've got to say I've been a little underwhelmed by his performance so far. (Yes, I realize he's a freshman senator.) Frankly, for an issue this important, I want a little more fire at the podium; not "mistakes will be made." And unless you're saying "fillibuster," this is all smoke and mirrors. This is a time for action. Stop being afraid of looking "soft on terror."

Then again, I suppose I should be glad that a Democrat is willing to speak about this at all.