Both Glenn Greenwald and Hilzoy are very happy about Obama choosing Dawn Johnsen as his Office of Legal Counsel head. They go into sufficient detail so I won’t add much.

That said, it is very heartening that he chose someone that spoke in depth about the need for the Executive to voluntarily give up power by monitoring itself and making sure that it followed both the letter and spirit of the Law. It gives hope to the idea that Obama is wise enough to realize he’ll be under intense pressure to do something — anything — to respond to the forthcoming crises, but that he will be able to govern a lot better with a powerful voice of caution.