Obama 'Open to' Miranda Changes

David Axelrod, ex-Tribune reporter, ex-political hack-until he met Obama, now top White House political adviser, said his boss was amenable to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s call for a new law allowing interrogators to question terrorism suspects for lengthy periods without informing them of their rights.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Axelrod said Mr. Obama was “open to looking at” changing the Miranda rule, which generally bans prosecutors from using as evidence statements made by suspects in custody before they have been warned that they have a right to remain silent and to consult a lawyer. “There may be some things that have to be done,” Mr. Axelrod said. “Certainly we’re willing to talk to Congress about that. But they would be in the area of adjustments, not a wholesale revision.”

Wait, wasn't Mr. Obama's law degree in Constitutional Law? Wasn't he a Constitutional Law professor?

Axlerod’s comments followed Holder's call for Congress to enact legislation that would carve out a new exception to the Miranda rule. It comes from a landmark 1966 Supreme Court decision that is intended to ensure that confessions are not coerced, consistent with the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

This might be an attempt to defuse a political discussion by Republicans who are upset that terrorist suspects, even including United States citizens arrested on United States soil, like Faisal Shahzad, the would-be-Times Square bomber — as criminal defendants rather than as military detainees under wartime rules. The thought is that Mirandising the defendants interrupts the interrogation process...

But, but, what about change and hope and all that? We'll just do a word search for "Obama" and hit replace for "Bush" and "Eric Holder" for "Alberto Gonzalez". Now I've got it.