1.

The New York Times’ Peter Baker, who reported on the Clinton and Bush 43 administrations for the Washington Post, said that the Obama administration is “in some ways … more transparent,” but in other ways, “they’re just like every other White House.”

Baker said that while the Obama team will engage with reporters more than the Bush team did, the traditional dynamic between the press corps and White House remains largely unchanged.

“They’re practitioners of the game,” Baker said of the Obama press team. “They’re not angels sent down from Heaven to change the way Washington works. They’re practitioners of the way Washington works.”

(Because we were under the impression that they are the heavenly angels of truth.)

— The Politico, Mixed Grade for Gibbs from WH Press

2.

I see no reason at all to doubt the sincerity of Dennis Blair, Obama’s own national intelligence director, who said in an April 16 memo to his staff that “high value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding” of Al Qaeda.

Blair later qualified this by adding, “There is no way of knowing whether the same information could have been obtained through other means.” But a reasonable person might imagine that it would take more than sweet talk, mind games, and lollipops to get hardened terrorists to sing.

— Stuart Taylor, Jr. National Journal, Did Torture Save Lives?

(Because we were under the impression that hardened terrorists would reveal all if we asked nicely and gave them sweets.)