To depart from Canada's federal election for a moment, how about U.S. President Barack Obama being sniped at for his apparent flip-flop in now approving military tribunals in Guantanamo instead of civilian trials in New York for certain detainees?
Perhaps he deserves compliments for adjusting to reality.
Republicans winning the House of Representatives last November shifted the mood overwhelmingly against civilian trials for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and four other hard line detainees. KSM is the admitted mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on America.
By refusing funding to transfer the defendants to the mainland, Congress forced Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to back off their insane desire for civilian trials. An ungracious Holder accused Congress of taking "one of the nation's most tested counterterrorism tools off the table and tied our hands in a way that could have serious ramifications."
Utter nonsense. What serious ramifications would these be?
New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly estimated it would cost $200 million a year to provide security for a civilian trial that could last years, and be more restrictive than a military trial.
KSM is the guy whose terror plan killed more Americans than the Japanese did at Pearl Harbour in 1941. Supposedly, he was waterboarded 183 times, during which he confessed everything the Americans wanted confessions for. The guy clearly is anxious for martyrdom, and a military trial may well grant his wishes.
Waterboarding
That waterboarding statistic, if true, suggests as a "torture" device it isn't that effective. More likely it's an agreed statistic to enable KSM to confess without recriminations from his own people.
There's irony, too, in the fact the military trial will be held at Guantanamo Bay, which Obama vowed was a priority to shut down when he was elected president.
In fact, Gitmo is a perfect place -- both for the U.S. administration and for detainees. Security is assured, and life for detainees is a hell of a lot better than it would be in a maximum security prison on the U.S. mainland.
At Guantanamo, detainees are well fed, live in a warm climate, have ample board games and perpetual access to lawyers, the Red Cross, human rights activist s, with arrows painted on the floor point towards Mecca to help them pray in the right direction. When interrogated, they sit in an armchair.
None of the above would be available in a federal prison.
Obama sometimes seems to be just trying to survive in a job that's over his head.
Holder is a different matter. He's the one who wanted KSM and others tried in New York and even convened a grand jury to review the evidence -- with the indictment again KSM kept secret under seal. Curious.
That was in late 2009. Yet nothing happened. Then the Democrats lost the House in the 2010 mid-term elections, and things changed. A close call.
Obama also erred about Libya. He was shrewd, even wise, to delay a decision until the European Union, Britain and the Arab League inherited responsibility for the Libyan "no fly zone." Pity Obama insisted that air attacks weren't aimed at a regime change, and the only goal was to save Libyan lives. More nonsense.
Why, some wondered, are Libyan lives worth saving but lives in Ivory Coast, Yemen, Syria, Iran et al are not?
Compared to Canada, not a reassuring time for the U. S administration.

Obama sometimes seems to be just trying to survive in a job that's over his head.