Sunday Roundup

Despite Karl Rove's concerns that his appearance before the House Judiciary Committee could become a "show trial," the deal he cut assures that his testimony, at least initially, will be conducted in private. John Conyers promises to get to the bottom of Rove's role in the US Attorneys scandal, but will Bush's Brain be asked about the outing of Valerie Plame? The prosecution of Don Siegelman? His cozy relationship with Jack Abramoff? The Rove deal allows Obama to sidestep weighing in on Bush's very broad claims of executive privilege. White House Counsel Greg Craig says Obama is "very sympathetic to those who want to find out what happened," but doesn't want to "do anything that would... weaken the institution of the presidency." After reading the chilling secret Bush memos released this week, the idea of a less unbridled executive branch doesn't seem like such a bad thing.