Hard Cop vs. Soft Cop vs. Coppjng Your Piece

While the Hope and Change War on Terra proceeds, the kabuki continues.

But regulate the banksters? Surely you jest. Watch the drama in D.C. instead! Will the insane mad dog prisoners of Gitmo sully our soil? Will the innocent lambs there be released? Will Big Time Dick get a slot on Rush's show?

Stay Tuned for a word from our sponsors!

[backstage, Barry O. is

...mulling the need for a “preventive detention” system that would establish a legal basis for the United States to incarcerate terrorism suspects who are deemed a threat to national security but cannot be tried, two participants in the private session said.

...The two participants, outsiders who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the session was intended to be off the record, said they left the meeting dismayed.

They said Mr. Obama told them he was thinking about “the long game” — how to establish a legal system that would endure for future presidents. He raised the issue of preventive detention himself, but made clear that he had not made a decision on it. Several senior White House officials did not respond to requests for comment on the outsiders’ accounts.

“He was almost ruminating over the need for statutory change to the laws so that we can deal with individuals who we can’t charge and detain,” one participant said. “We’ve known this is on the horizon for many years, but we were able to hold it off with George Bush. The idea that we might find ourselves fighting with the Obama administration over these powers is really stunning.”

The other participant said Mr. Obama did not seem to be thinking about preventive detention for terrorism suspects now held at Guantánamo Bay, but rather for those captured in the future, in settings other than a legitimate battlefield like Afghanistan. “The issue is,” the participant said, “What are the options left open to a future president?”

]

Ah, the old anonymous sources routine, worrying about options on other than the legitimate battlefield, the Company off stage voice narrating the back story that makes the players dance.

It's an old story.