To-do list: President pledges to keep trying to shut down Guantanamo

The White House was kind enough to release a transcript of the president’s State of the Union address just before the speech itself kicked off. In fact, there was plenty of time to read through the entire speech as the president arrived and greeted legislators and members of the Supreme Court as he made his way to the lectern.

The White House has insisted that there will be no mention of Iran’s capture of two Navy boats this afternoon. However, there is plenty of familiar, old material in there; for example, Obama again contends that “leadership means a wise application of military power, and rallying the world behind causes that are right.” For that reason, the president “will keep working to shut down the prison at Guantanamo: it’s expensive, it’s unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies.”

Even though its a pet policy goal, the president has mentioned #Guantanamo in less than half of his State of the Union addresses.

— Ali Watkins (@AliWatkins) January 13, 2016

#SOTU: @Krauthammer: “When Obama repeated Guantanamo, you knew he’d sort of run out of ideas.” Ain’t that the truth!

— Janie Johnson (@jjauthor) January 13, 2016

@jjauthor @krauthammer I really hopeful Obama doesn't tell us again "that's not who we are". I got news for Obama, we are not him, period.

— Steve Okay (@SteveOkTU) January 13, 2016

That’s not who we are? Spoiler: We’ve read the transcript, and you’ll want to plug your ears.

Again, even left-leaning PolitiFact has performed a review of ISIS and Al Qaeda recruiting literature and found practically no mention whatsoever of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. The conclusion? Air strikes by the United States are a far more effective terrorist recruitment tool, and those seem to be the politically “safe” alternative to boots on the ground.

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.@POTUS promised for years to close #Guantanamo Bay. Still no Admin plan for doing so, no detention strategy for war on terror #legacy

— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) January 13, 2016

https://twitter.com/roqchams/status/687098156836892672

This Obama's 8th #SOTU. He's had 7 years to close #Guantanamo yet he hasn't. How about you add that to your final to-do list, Mr. President?

— CODEPINK (@codepink) January 13, 2016

https://twitter.com/EvilEsq/status/687087220805664769