A lot of headlines today seem to put the responsibility for (not) closing Guantanamo and Gitmo on the Democrats in Congress.

Here’s New York Times for instance

Democrats in Senate Block Money to Close Guantánamo

Only in the third paragraph do we find out – in passing, that

In recent days, Mr. Obama has faced growing demands from both parties, but particularly Republicans, to lay out a more detailed road map for closing the Guantánamo prison and to provide assurances that detainees would not end up on American soil, even in maximum security prisons.

And yet, the headlines have Democrats jeopardizing the closing of Guantanamo that Obama so wanted (that would be the same Obama who wants to keep some prisoners and have military tribunals)

Of course, now he appears like the good guy who tried, but the bad Democrats in Congress wouldn’t let him.

Here’s WaPo pushing this narrative

U.S. Senate Democrats on Tuesday moved to cut $80 million earmarked for closing the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, a fresh setback for President Barack Obama’s efforts to move beyond the Bush administration’s anti-terror policies.

Only Dick Durbin apparently let the cat out of the bag

Did the administration put Democrats in an awkward position, asking for the money before setting out how it would be spent?

“Not at all,” said Reid.

“Yes,” his deputy, Sen. Dick Durbin replied to the same question.

Oops! It’s a good thing this nugget of information is wedged in a collection of 3 botched Reid statements with the one on Ted Kennedy’s health bound to catch the public’s attention.

here’s Durbin from the WaPo account:

“The feeling was at this point we were defending the unknown. We were being asked to defend a plan that hasn’t been announced,” said Richard Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat.

This is a symptomatic one for the way Obama operates: he is the one reading the lofty speeches – the peons have to sweat working out the policy details. Whatever happened to teamwork?

Other than the introduction of TOTUS in the equation, is pretty much back to Jr times.

And, by throwing the democrats in Congress under the bus, some interesting shifts may occur next election – for all the reports of death of the GOP.

One more thing: Obama knows that he has the complicity of the media in this and knows exactly what he is doing. I am reminded of what he told bankers he met with prior to the bailout

The public isn’t buying that.” (i.e:  my media won’t let them)

“My administration,” the president added, “is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”

To which, I thought at the time: or, depending on the perspective, it was the bankers standing between the pitchforks and Obama. But the public needs to once again, look past the media noise…

Update

Marc Ambinder who has always been the voice of the Obama spinsters, comes with the latest:

Was it a setback? Only apparently. Obana reallt shrewdly played everyone

The shrewdness of Obama’s executive order on day two cannot be denied, nor can its targeted audience – European and Arab governments, and the broader world – be ignored in the current debate.  Gitmo was a “rallying cry” for Al Qaeda – that line’s for public consumption – and for anti-Americanism abroad, for European smugness, for exasperation with America by Moslems everywhere.

Once we “fooled those people, we can go on with business as usual

The plain truth is that the administration fully expects to hold a number of detainees in indefinite custody within the United States. (Ironically, had Guantanamo not become a lightning rod for the world, it might have been the perfect place to build long-term detention facilities.)

See? And Congress takes the fall. Brilliant!

About these ads