Incremental Changes

Via Crooks and Liars, we learn Obama has gone from "We must look ahead, not backwards" on the CIA probe to merely benign indifference.

An investigation into abuse of terrorism detainees won't be halted following a letter sent to President Barack Obama by seven former CIA directors. "I don't want to start getting into the business of squelching, you know, investigations that are being conducted," Obama told CNN's John King Sunday.

"I appreciate the former CIA directors wanting to look after an institution that they helped to build," Obama told CBS' Bob Schieffer in a separate interview.

Which is all Obama can really do. A full-throated call for investigations will only earn him the ire of the entire Washington establishment.

Of course, allowing the investigation to proceed will still do just that, only it will take longer. Still, Obama is going to have to take a public stand on this issue at some point.