So it's early for members of Congress to lambaste the president for not being more specific on what he wants in a global tobacco settlement.
Liability is the most controversial part of any tobacco settlement.
Some anti-smoking activists think it's crazy to let the industry walk away from the threat of future lawsuits, just when so much documentary proof is surfacing of its deceptions and strategy for hooking young smokers. There's no simple answer to those questions, and until the hard bargaining begins, no way of knowing what tradeoffs, if any, are worth making. The desire to squirm out of potentially immense future damages is the one thing that brought the companies to the table. The president is not wrong to move slowly in dealing with this wily and well-heeled empire and, for a while at least, to float and leave open as many options as he can.