Millions worldwide rejoiced in January when Obama entered the White House & said torture would cease.

During Barack Obama's inauguration speech, it was striking to hear him declare that "we are a nation of Christians and Muslims" - indicating that both have the right to live and practice their religions in America, free from discrimination.

However, for Arabs and Muslims who have faced racism, religious discrimination, and unjustified arrests and detention under the auspices of "fighting terrorism," the Obama's administration's commitment to the "war on terror" would seem to be in contradiction with that idea.

In February his Attorney General endorsed "renditions" (global kidnap & torture) & continued the Bush policy of refusing to recognise the jurisdiction of US courts should legal proceedings arise Obama supports the denial of Geneva safeguards to "enemy combatants" a label which could apply (should circumstance offer the chance) to any noble soul who tries to thwart an illegal CIA kidnap.

Within days of his inauguration, Obama re-authorized the serial assassination of "suspected militants" & their extended families & neighbours by unmanned US drones dispatched from a military base near Las Vegas, by teenagers on computers who set off the missiles then "go down to the Taco Bell for lunch", not caring to know the names of the women & children crushed in the rubble.

A few days ago in a tribal area in Pakistan, supposedly an ally, 30 civilians were killed & seven more wounded, whilst others were buried alive by the blast .... possibly Obama's first war crime ..... then, two days later, another 30 or so no-names are bombed & consigned to oblivion.

So much for change to believe in .....

Recently Obama gave a speech praising the excellence of the American experiment & claimed his own life was made possible by the promise of the documents & the ideals that founded this nation. As usual, his delivery & diction were perfect. Unfortunately, his behavior of late has fallen far short of the ideals he has given such eloquent lip service to.

Two thousand pictures of Americans performing acts of savage torture on prisoners will not be released to the general public ..... if Obama gets his way. Military commissions will continue to try prisoners outside the scope of American law & will be free to use brazen hearsay as "hard" evidence against defendants.

Obama continues to cleave to the most abhorrent aspects of Bush-era secrecy policies & has moved to block a lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington (CREW) on behalf of former CIA agent Valerie Plame, who was outed by Bush administration officials in order to silence her Iraq whistleblower husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

These issues of torture & secrecy lead directly to the office of the President of the United States & the manner in which Obama has proceeded thus far offends the very nature of the nation he presumes to lead. Obama sang the praises of our founding documents on Thursday, while failing utterly to live up to the oath he swore to them.

In particular:

"No person shall be held to answer for any capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

That is the Fifth Amendment to the word, which as much as anything else is what makes America a special place.

The notion of American exceptionalism raises hackles all across the world, but within the lines of that Fifth Amendment are the ideals that do make America truly exceptional.

Whilst Bushit is in hiding & Cheney runs around defending the worst of America's behaviour under him, Obama struts his stuff, weaving a tapestry of poetic words to conceal how his new American exceptionalism extends breathtakingly beyond anything contemplated by Bush or Cheney.

Rachel Maddow explains .....