Things look different when you have to take responsibility for the nation’s safety yourself:
The larger story here is that the anti-antiterror lobby is losing the man it thought was its strongest ally. During his campaign, Mr. Obama talked as if he really believed that the Bush Administration was uniquely wicked on national security. Joe Biden cosponsored Senate legislation that would have prevented the executive branch from making state-secrets claims to shelve lawsuits, rather than shielding individual evidence from judicial (and public) scrutiny.
Now it seems that the Bush Administration’s antiterror architecture is gaining new legitimacy, just as Eisenhower validated Truman’s Cold War framework. Mr. Obama claims to have banned coercive interrogation techniques, except in those cases where more extreme measures are necessary to save lives. He says he’ll shut down Gitmo in a year or so, but his subordinates — including Elena Kagan during her confirmation hearings for Solicitor General this week — admit that indefinite detention will still be necessary for some terrorists. He walked back his wiretap absolutism even before he was elected. Now the Administration has endorsed the same secrecy posture that he once found so offensive, merely saying that it will be used less frequently. We’ll see.
These are all laudable signs of Mr. Obama’s antiterror progress. Perhaps some day he’ll acknowledge his debt to his predecessor.
Let’s give credit where credit is due. Some Democrats are irresponsible enough to have pressed on with their anti-antiterror ideology once in office. Carter would have, to be sure. I thought Obama was another, so I’m pleasantly surprised.
Unfortunately, President Obama has also continued President Bush’s inaction in important areas. Iran is months away from a nuclear bomb, is led by a man who believes he can usher in the end of the world, and has explicitly called for the destruction of Israel. President Obama’s policy, like his predecessor, seems to be to do nothing.
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