The First 100 Days: What Ought to be Done Right Away?

The First 100 Days: What Ought to be Done Right Away?

The First 100 Days: Michael Walzer

A simple proposal: On day one, President Obama should announce that he will

1) Shut down Guantánamo

2) End rendition

3) Repudiate the Bush administration’s torture memos

Immediately, the United States will look different to the world, and Americans will feel different about themselves. These three acts would be in the post-partisan style that Obama favors: they would appeal as much to (genuinely) conservative lawyers as to liberals and leftists. Of course, taking such steps isn’t innovation so much as restoration, but given the illegalities of the last eight years, the restoration of American justice would be a radical change for the better and a great beginning.

Michael Walzer is Dissent‘s co-editor.