Is President Obama flipping back again on the subject of how to conduct torture investigations?
His press secretary, Robert Gibbs, told reporters today that Obama no longer favored the idea of a bipartisan commission to probe the issue. “The president determined the concept didn’t seem altogether workable in this case,” said Gibbs. And the Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, reports that Obama backed away from the position during a “lengthy exchange” earlier yesterday with House Minority Leader John Boehner.*
That follows Obama’s comments Tuesday, in which said that if an investigation was going to happen, he favored the bipartisan commission approach, rather than having congressional hearings.
As for the notion of appointing a special prosecutor — which would seem to be the only way to really hold wrongdoers accountable — that idea doesn’t appear to even be on the table.
* This paragraph has been corrected and updated from an earlier version.