Barack Obama 'lawyered' many of his positions in his campaign, giving the impression of a clean break with Bush policies but usually qualifying the approaches with loop holes. The New York Times editorial notes the lack of enthusiasm by the Obama Administration for a complete break with some Bush policies. "Change you can believe in" ... "but not too quickly" might be a more appropriate qualification.
....we never expected President Obama to immediately reverse every one of President George W. Bush’s misguided and dangerous policies on terrorism, prisoners, the rule of law and government secrecy...Last week, the administration notified a federal court hearing appeals by Guantánamo inmates that it was dropping Mr. Bush’s absurd claim that he could declare anyone an “enemy combatant” and deprive that prisoner of judicial process...Mr. Obama’s lawyers did not seem to rule out indefinite military detentions for terrorism suspects and their allies. ...the legal pretext for turning criminal defendants into lifelong military captives.... we were delighted to see Attorney General Eric Holder reverse the Bush policy on releasing documents under the Freedom of Information Act...our distress that the Justice Department had abandoned transparency just last month in a case before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The case involves five men who were seized and transported to American facilities abroad or countries known for torturing prisoners. The Obama administration advanced the same expansive state-secrets argument pressed by Mr. Bush’s lawyers ...
Mr. Obama also should stop resisting an investigation of Mr. Bush’s policies on terrorism, state secrets, wiretapping, detention and interrogation. We know he is struggling with many Bush-created disasters — in the economy, in foreign policy and on and on. But understanding all that has gone wrong is the only way to ensure that abuses will truly end.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/opinion/22sun1.html