ACLU demands Obama keep ‘unmet promises’ in 2nd term

By: American Decency Staff

 

The American Civil Liberties Union is giving President Barack Obama no time to kick back and celebrate after he won reelection last week calling on the president to keep promises that were ignored or undelivered in his first term.

The group took out a full-page ad in Sunday’s New York Times, congratulating the president on four more years, but saying it's time for Obama to “meet unmet promises” and “lead America into an era that expands freedom.”

Specifically, the ACLU lays out three areas of focus: closing Guantanamo, standing up for a woman’s right to have an abortion and rescinding “anti-immigrant federal programs and policies.”

Though the ad says Obama accomplished “a lot” in his first term, it also notes that the Department of Homeland Security has carried out a record number of deportations and, on Guantanamo, says it’s time for Obama to keep the “first promise” he made as president.

In a corresponding op-ed in The Huffington Post last week, ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero cites Obama’s achievements thus far and reiterates what the group hopes for moving forward

“These three asks are bold. They are not incremental. They are not equivocal. They represent the boldness of leadership that is expected of the president. And they represent the boldness that is needed to restore America as a land of freedom and defender of human rights,” Romero writes.

An Obama White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on the ACLU's promisekeeping drive.

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