Sullivan can go overbaord in his defnse of Obama, but this time I think he has it right. I think Obama was saying that not only is it a waste of time to go the court with these issues, but that its not constitutional either. It seemed to me that he was agreeing with the negative liberties interpetation. What may confuse people is that he’s a politician so the wording didnt seem totally… definitive. I think he did that though so as not to turn off the liberal host or the left that would be listening to that pbs interview.

He could be asked about it though. But I think he will say what he meant is just what I said. In fact, one of his advisors, Cass Sunstein, has released a statement saying as much. You can think Obama believes the supreme court should delcare rights to health care, income, housing, etc… but I think youre being biased to the point of being paranoid if you do.