24th June 2010, 3:23 PM
In the long run I think this whole episode is going to fade into obscurity. The decision Obama made was purely a political one, and history books really won't take much note of it.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)