> Julio, you've got to be joking. This is their rationale?
All I'm doing is forwarding what Andrew Kreig says that Christopher Edley, Jr., a member of Obama's transition team, told his law-school audience recently about the fears they had. Whether those fears were well founded or entirely in their heads is not something we are in a position to determine with certainty. So don't shoot the messenger here.
What I wrote in reply to Jordan I stand by, since it's rather obvious and general: that the powers that be shape people's behavior not only with dangling carrots, but also with sticks. Obama and Richard Clark are not beyond this. It is clear that by betraying the hopes of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party and followers, instrumental to his election, Obama incurred a cost. It is not unlikely that he'll lose the White House in 2012 as a result of this choice he made. Clearly, in his mind, the benefits of betraying his base were greater than these costs. Which benefits were those?