So, what is it that we're hopeful about again?

Rights for detainees?? You're kidding, right?

I do not run around with Republicans, typically. My peer group tends to be tried and true Democrats. I was probably the only person in my county to pull the lever for Nader, and suffered all sorts of ribbing by blissed-out, high-fiving Obamamaniacs. In the wake of that, I thought I'd hold my fire for a time.

I squirmed a bit about the extrajudicial murders of Pakistanis a day into the new administration, but said nothing.

In honesty, I have pretty much written off Obama's diabolically inept efforts to slow the economy's accelerating descent into the abyss. He's a mainstream American politician. His campaign has been underwritten by the clowns who got us into this mess, and he has put some of the biggests miscreants in charge of "solving" it. So when Obama throws trillions down a hole for the bankers and some token billions for over-their-heads homeowners, I shrug. What could he do?

But, this latest abomination is a little shocking even to me. Raw Story is a little less mealy-mouthed than the wire services:

In a stunning departure from his rhetoric on Guantánamo Bay prison, President Barack Obama signaled Friday he will continue Bush Administration policy with regard to detainees held at a US airbase in Afghanistan, saying they have no right to challenge their detentions in US courts -- and denying them legal status altogether.

There was talk, and not just campaign promises, that the new administration would once more make the United States a nation ruled by laws. Alas, no.

"Yesterday's announcement that the Obama administration has not even considered departing from the very same unjust and inhumane policies of his predecessor, is an ominous sign that human rights and the rule of law are simply not a priority of this administration," the International Justice Network, who is counsel in all the cases under review, said to Raw Story in a statement. "We expected more from this President when he promised that we would not trade our fundamental values for false promises of security.

Personally, there's not a lot of ways left in which he can disappoint me. The one I'm watching:
"entitlement reform" and his "summit" of experts that will convene tomorrow.