Michael Crowley on the administration's Anwar Awlaki and wiretap positions:
My hunch is that Obama could make an excellent argument against all these positions, and that it pains him to adopt them. But also that he gets constant and chilling briefings about the terror threat and would rather be accused of limiting civil liberties than of having been less than fully vigilant.
It's the far-right that made these reactionary things mandatory for modern presidents -- or risk being hauled off on a rail. But it seems like the Awlaki case would have flown under the radar had the administration not made such a stink in court.