SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 2010
COLBERT I. KING
authorities don’t want you to know: One of the homi- cide victims, and two of those arrested in connection with that violence and an earlier shooting, were under the commitment of the city’s Department of Youth Re- habilitation Services. The Post reported on Thursday that the 14-year-old youth charged with first-degree murder in Tuesday’s mass shooting was under DYRS commitment and had run away before his arrest. He had nine prior convic- tions and had been in DYRS custody six times. What’s more, one of the four homicide victims in
Tuesday’s shooting, an 18-year-old man, was also un- der commitment to DYRS. Orlando Carter, 20, was arrested and charged with
first-degree murder in Tuesday’s shooting. His broth- er, Sanquan Carter, 19, was also under DYRS commit- ment at the time of his March 22 arrest for the alleged murder of Jordan Howe, 20. Howe’s death and Tues- day’s drive-by reportedly are connected. What’s meant by DYRS commitment? D.C. Superior Court Chief Judge Lee Satterfield, in an e-mail message to Ward 1 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners this week, explained: “DC law does not provide the Court with any authority over youth committed to the custody of the city. Family Court judges who find a juvenile ‘involved’ in a crime (the DC Code’s nomenclature for guilt) have but two op- tions: put the youth on probation, which the court’s juvenile probation officers monitor and over which
RUTH MARCUS
Change they can’t believe in
with what they see as the president’s accommodationist backtracking from campaign promises. “If there is an interest group completely happy with Obama, they’ve done a great job of keeping quiet about it,” said Jim Kessler, vice president of the centrist group Third Way. The difference between the two sides is that the left’s complaints are more, as they liked to say in the days of George W. Bush, reality-based. Obama has done things —or, more often, failed to do things — that have under- standably disappointed various constituencies. The latest irritant is Obama’s move to expand off- shore drilling. “[T]he White House is in the process of antagonizing yet another key Democratic constituen- cy,” liberal blogger John Aravosis wrote after Obama’s announcement.
T
And then there are:
Unions unhappy that their top legislative priority, the Employee Free Choice Act, is stalled and that they had to swallow an excise tax on insurance plans as part of health-care reform. Gay rights advocates frustrated with the languid pace of progress on repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” and in- censed this week when the Obama Justice Department filed a brief defending the policy’s constitutionality. Women’s groups upset about the abortion re- strictions in the new health-care law. Civil libertarians infuriated about the administra- tion’s legal positions in the war against terrorism, from indefinite detention to warrantless wiretapping to mili- tary commissions. African American groups concerned that the admin- istration has not done enough for minorities, partic- ularly in the area of job creation. Hispanic groups bemoaning the lack of action on im- migration reform. The president remains overwhelmingly popular with
liberal Democrats. His problem, such as it is, is with what one party strategist called the “activist infrastruc- ture.” To some extent, this is inherent in the nature of the
job. No president can govern as purely as his most ideo- logical supporters would like. The art of the possible re- quires trade-offs certain to rankle those who elevate the importance of one particular issue. Some of the dissatisfaction, though, is unique to Oba- ma. Bill Clinton faced his share of grumbling from the base: Remember the North American Free Trade Agree- ment and welfare reform? But Clinton ran as a different kind of Democrat, so party interest groups were at least warned.
Obama ran as, well, Obama — a relatively unknown but charismatic vessel into which Democrats of any ideological stripe could pour their hopes. Disappoint- ment was inevitable. No flesh-and-blood president could live up to the imagined heights of candidate Oba- ma. If the swooning left had read Obama’s policy mani- festo, “The Audacity of Hope,” it would have gotten a peek at Obama’s style as president, elevating the achiev- able over the perfect. The offshore-drilling decision perfectly illustrates Obamaism’s pragmatic progressivism. Substantively, the president is attracted to split-the-difference solu- tions: allow drilling here, block it there. Politically, he is a horse-trader, not a line-drawer. Given his supporters’ “extravagant unrealism,” says the Brookings Institution’s William Galston, “there was no way he could fulfill all those promises — not in his first year, not in his first term, not ever.” Obama’s deci- sion to put all his chips on health care guaranteed that those with competing priorities would be frustrated. The unexpected length of the health-care fight only ag- gravated that reaction.
Galston points to another factor underlying un- happiness among Democratic Party constituencies: the “asymmetrical polarization” of the political parties. Un- like the GOP, which has consolidated its conservatism, the Democratic Party is ideologically diverse. The Dem- ocratic base lacks an ideological majority. Some of the party’s core voters are destined to be disappointed some of the time.
Such unhappiness may drain energy and money from campaigns, but it’s hard to imagine a primary challenge to Obama similar to Ted Kennedy’s effort to oust President Jimmy Carter in 1980. After all, Obama managed to secure passage of health-care reform, albeit without the vaunted public option. Then again, Obama faces the worst of three worlds.
Conservatives see him as the reincarnation of Karl Marx. Liberals are frustrated by what they perceive as one sellout or another. And independents, disgusted by partisan bickering, worried about the economy and nervous about health reform, don’t perceive any mod- eration. Not exactly a comfortable place for a president to be.
marcusr@washpost.com
BY DANZIGER
he perplexing irony of Barack Obama’s presiden- cy is that even as conservatives attack him as a crazed socialist, many on the left are frustrated
Drawing Board
In Southeast shootings, another city failure
T
here’s something about this week’s drive-by shooting that left four victims dead and five oth- ers wounded on South Capitol Street that D.C.
the judges have control, or, if the judge thinks proba- tion is not sufficient, the judge can commit the youth to the city at which point the court loses all authority over the youth including the authority to securely de- tain a youth.” Continuing: “Usually when judges commit youth to
the city, we do so because we believe that probation is not sufficient and that the youth needs secure deten- tion or long term residential placement at a treatment facility. In other words, we believe that the charges are serious enough to warrant removing the youth from the community either for the safety of the community or the safety of the youth. We just do not have the au- thority to accomplish this goal.” Therefore, it mattered not that judges determined in the cases of Sanquan Carter, and the 18- and the 14- year-old youths, that each was a safety risk and should be removed from the community. DYRS chose to put them in community placements (for example, one in a group home and another with his family). A reader recently sent me a copy of an e-mail he cir-
culated accusing me of being a “Johnny one note” for repeatedly writing about DYRS decisions that en- danger youths and the community. The Post, he sug- gested, should find a better use of this valuable space. Perhaps so. Till it does, I type on. On March 4 a young man was arrested and charged with putting two bullets into the back of 18-year-old Calvin Woodland in January. That man, under DYRS commitment at the time, is also a veteran of the system. A source with access to official records said the sus-
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pect’s first contact with D.C. police occurred at age 14. By the time he was 18, he had been arrested nine times on multiple charges, including four separate weapons charges. On his fourth arrest, he was committed to DYRS until age 21. After only 11 months of secure con- finement, he was released. He was arrested and con- victed again, spent 10 months locked up, and again was released by DYRS. Rest in peace, Calvin Woodland. More? In February, Daquan Johnson, 19, and a 16-year-old youth were arrested and charged with the February murder of Carlos B. Alexander, 47. At the time of the alleged homicide, Johnson, though committed to DYRS, was living at home. The 16-year-old, also com- mitted to DYRS, was not in secure confinement but living in a D.C. group home. This is not juvenile justice reform; this is madness. Judge Satterfield, responding to the familiar com- plaint that juvenile offenders have nothing to fear from the courts, said in his e-mail that youths don’t worry because they know “that if they are adjudicated guilty by a judge, the judge has no authority to secure- ly detain them under DC law.” How much longer will this perversion of justice and public safety — done in the name of enlightenment — be tolerated? Mayor Adrian Fenty, Attorney General Peter Nickles, D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray and council members have the power to end this trav- esty.
What say you, D.C. voters?
kingc@washpost.com
Stop lecturing Hamid Karzai in public
by Michael O’Hanlon and Hassina Sherjan
J
ust four days after President Obama’s sur- prise visit to Kabul, Afghan President Ha- mid Karzai gave a major speech complain- ing that heavy-handed international ac- tions tarnished last year’s presidential election, diminished his legitimate status as clear winner and risked making the foreign military presence resemble the imperialist in- vaders of yesteryear. Karzai went too far. His comments were unfair and risked encouraging critics of the Afghanistan mission who want to portray for- eign forces as unwelcome. But his remarks were also a predictable result of American browbeating. Historically, negative treatment of the Afghan leader has produced these sorts of reactions. Kabul and Washington are part- ners in the effort to create a stable, demo- cratic state; they should understand that pub- lic displays of rancor are best avoided. The immediate catalyst for Karzai’s out- burst appears to have been comments by Obama’s national security adviser. En route to Kabul, Gen. Jim Jones predicted to jour- nalists on the record that Obama would pres- sure Karzai about corruption in governance and said that Karzai had made no progress on this front since his Nov. 19 inauguration. Jones’s concerns were not without founda-
tion. Even as the latest wave of U.S. troops be- gan arriving en masse,and NATO forces, with limited Afghan help, were clearing towns such as Marja in Helmand province and pre- paring for a major operation in Kandahar city, the ruling elites in Kabul allegedly refused to clean up their self-serving approach to gov- ernance. Allegations of malfeasance have been reinforced by concerns about the presi- dent’s brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, a major power broker in Kandahar. His system of pa- tronage and favoritism has been a concern for allied forces, who see it as angering local tribes that are on the outs — and thereby help- ing the Taliban’s efforts to recruit followers. In the past year, Vice President Biden and
other U.S. officials have strongly criticized the Afghan leader in public. But whatever one thinks of Afghan governance, and it’s true that it’s not improving fast enough, Jones’s re- marks were flawed and self-defeating. First, Karzai was largely a U.S. pick.
BY BAGLEY FOR THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE BY LUCKOVICH FOR THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
Through the Bonn process that followed the Taliban’s overthrow in 2001, this country led an international effort to make him Afghani- stan’s leader. His “big tent” approach to gov- ernance was seen as the most practical way to engender support from tribal leaders, war- lords and other power brokers as the United States sought to maintain a light footprint in Afghanistan and avoided building up a strong central state. Circumstances have changed since 2001, but Karzai remains largely the same man. Moreover, some aspects of his strategy of inclusiveness resemble the Amer- ican desire for reconciliation with elements of the Afghan insurgency. We have grounds to debate and criticize Karzai on many issues, but such conversations need to happen with an attitude of respect, an appreciation of nu- ance, and an awareness that 80 percent of Af- ghans still like him as their leader. Second, Jones was wrong that no notable progress has been made against corruption since November. The pace of progress re- mains too slow, but Karzai began his second term as president by keeping in office many of his best ministers and governors. Helmand province Gov. Gulab Mangal, Interior Min- ister Hanif Atmar and Defense Minister Ab- dul Rahim Wardak, for example, have accom- plished a good deal for their country. The Ma- jor Crimes Task Force designed to pursue cases of high-level corruption is gaining strength. And the number of trained Afghan army and police forces accompanying NATO troops into Marja, while still modest, was double the number of locally available forces accompanying U.S. Marines on similar opera- tions in Helmand last year. Discussions continue about how to dilute Ahmed Karzai’s influence in Kandahar. But delays reflect disagreement among NATO governments about how to proceed, not just nepotistic interference from Kabul. Third, browbeating Karzai, especially in public, does not work. A more respectful ap- proach has proved effective. While keeping much of his counsel private, Sen. John Kerry was direct in meetings with Karzai last fall. Kerry persuaded Karzai to accept a second round of voting to determine the presidency, and though that second round was not imple- mented, Karzai’s willingness to approve it did much to shore up his legitimacy at home and abroad. Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s discreet approach to Karzai and his cabinet has gener- ated cooperation with key ministers on re- form of Afghan security forces. And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presence at Karzai’s second inauguration is part of a State Depart- ment effort to make diplomacy and devel- opment more effective, in part by reaching out to regional and local Afghan leaders in key places. Perhaps the professional rapport he seems to have with Clinton is an in- dication that Karzai responds to such efforts. A transcript of the Obama-Karzai meeting was not released. Our guess is that it had a more balanced tone than much of the trip’s public remarks. To be fair, Jones may have underestimated how his comments could re- inforce negative perceptions in Afghanistan and the United States and set the stage for an- other period of acrimony. But we are fighting a war. Our leaders need to stop relearning les- sons about U.S.-Afghan diplomacy every few months. There is no time to waste.
BY MORIN FOR THE MIAMI HERALD
Michael O’Hanlon is director of research and a senior foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution. Hassina Sherjan is an Afghan businesswoman and director of the nonprofit group Aid Afghanistan for Education. They are co-authors of “Toughing It Out in Afghanistan.”
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