We did enjoy that bit again, on shutting down Guantánamo

The President was at his temptress'

best at his appearance before repor-

ters yesterday, offering glimpses of

how he won his Office. He wasn't so

great on the force-feeding of prison-

ers, contrary to international pro-

tocols subscribed by the American Med-

ical Association, but he was close to

Wordsworth's perfect heaven on the no-

tion of discontinuing his crimes of

incarceration, at least at their most

infamous outpost. Much tidier (there

were those killjoys who muttered), a

fastidious splat of drones.

Already from the wings, on the other hand, the snare-drum roll of excuses caught his signature riff of Executive incapacity, as he moued of going, fan in hand, to his sadistic Congress, begging a humane release from his predecessor's use of war powers. As the curtain closed upon his presentation, it was as if the tease of déjà vu had run its natural course, and our right wing carny matrons, from Gerson to Krauthammer, hardly needed then to spank us back to shame.
The President conceded long ago, accepting the authoritarian illusion of being kept safe as a human right, which it is not. It is a policy - and not inherently a cruel one, but for its vain and tragic dread of life.