As usual, Glenn Greenwald is right on the money:

When Obama was seeking the Democratic nomination, the Constitutional Law Scholar answered a questionnaire about executive power distributed by The Boston Globe‘s Charlie Savage, and this was one of his answers:

5. Does the Constitution permit a president to detain US citizens without charges as unlawful enemy combatants?

[Obama]: No. I reject the Bush Administration’s claim that the President has plenary authority under the Constitution to detain U.S. citizens without charges as unlawful enemy combatants.

So back then, Obama said the President lacks the power merely to detain U.S. citizens without charges. Now, as President, he claims the power to assassinate them without charges. Could even his hardest-core loyalists try to reconcile that with a straight face?

Candidates say the darndest things --

When in Mississippi -- butter-up the "base" like Mitt Romney did recently when he said:

"If the federal government were run more like here in Mississippi, the whole country would be a lot better off."

The locals loved it.

However, for every dollar its residents pay in federal taxes, they receive/spend $2.73 from various government programs.