Restitutor Orbis

Some good news has come in this morning (I'm getting spoiled): Eric Holder was sworn in Tuesday as U.S. attorney general, becoming the first African-American to lead the Department of Justice on a permanent basis. The Senate had voted 75-21 on Monday to confirm Obama's nomination of Holder, 58, who has previously served as a federal prosecutor, deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration, and briefly, as acting attorney general in early 2001. The man is eminently qualified and he is foursquare against torture. MSNBC reports that "Holder's chief supporter, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the confirmation was a fulfillment of Martin Luther King's dream that everyone would be judged by the content of their character."

There was some opposition, of course: Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Kentucky, mentioned Holder's insufficient support for gun rights, for example, and all 21 of the "no" votes were, unsurprisingly, Republicans. They're afraid Holder will hold Bush and his cronies accountable to the law. We can't have that in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Even the Romans prosecuted corrupt consuls when their term of office ended but for Republicans, the violation of the law has become the rule of law. CNN reports

Bond, the ranking Republican on the Intelligence Committee, raised concerns that the administration would seek to prosecute U.S. officials involved in using what the Bush administration called "alternative" interrogation techniques, measures that critics said involved the torture of prisoners in U.S. custody.

Holder unambiguously called the use of waterboarding against suspected terrorists a form of torture that violated the Geneva Conventions, but he has said that prosecuting intelligence officials who followed Justice Department guidance would be "difficult."

Bond said that while Holder's answer focused on U.S. officials who were following the administration's legal advice, "I told him, and I believe he understood, that trying to prosecute these lawyers or political leaders would generate a political firestorm."

Yes, we can't have a political firestorm can we? Better to just violate the Constitution and International Law and then pretend it never happened. What are these people thinking, seriously? If we do nothing now, another president will come along eventually who is even worse than Bush, and we'll end up with a dictatorship.

Holder promises to act in a nonpartisan manner, which will be refreshing after Alberto Gonzales' Reinhard Heydrich impersonation. According to AP,

"I am determined to ensure that this shall be a new day for the dedicated career professionals that I am so honored to call my colleagues," Holder told various employees and dignitaries gathered for the ceremony. He said he was committed to remaking the department "into what it once was and what is always should be."

On another front, beset by questions about "back taxes and potential conflicts of interest," Tom Daschle has withdrawn his nomination to be Obama's Health and Human Services secretary.

"Now we must move forward," Obama said in a written statement accepting Daschle's surprise request to be removed from consideration. A day earlier, Obama had said he "absolutely" stood by Daschle.

Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader and a strong backer of Obama's presidential bid, said he would have been unable to operate "with the full faith of Congress and the American people."

"I am not that leader, and will not be a distraction" to Obama's agenda, he said.

Also in the news today, Gallup reports that "Of seven actions Barack Obama has taken during the early days of his presidency, five are supported by large majorities of Americans."