River wild

'Hope is flickering,' ACLU declares

After the British High Court ruled that evidence of a British resident's rendition and harsh interrogation at the Pentagon's Guantanamo Bay prison must remain secret because of threats made by the Bush administration to halt intelligence sharing, the Obama Administration offered a terse statement seemingly expressing support to the BBC.

Obama is not just getting off on the wrong foot, he's setting a course down the main current of the river, towards the falls, when the only hope is to steer hard for shore. He has yet to make any real statement, on anything, to the US public. I can certainly believe that he still does not have sufficient control over the government for that. Clinton II? The stakes are far higher now, and the freedom to act much is more constrained. Is he up to the job? It's not looking good.