Obama's Hit Squad: Above and Beyond the Law

I think it’s reasonable to say that those Americans who hoped for some improvement – even if only of the marginal variety – from Barack Obama on the civil liberties front have often been pretty disappointed. But because American conservatives – at least those conservatives gathered in the Republican party – have no interest in these quaint notions either it’s not something that’s become a dominant theme of his presidency.

And, as Mike Crowley says, it’s probable that the President calculates that the upside from pleasing the people who care about these things isn’t worth the trouble if, god forbid, something happens and he can be portrayed as “soft” on terrorism (watch for David Cameron to slip away from campaign rhetoric here too).