Another Campaign Promise Reversal

It's now a demonstrable fact that this President has reneged on the vast majority of his pledges to the American people.

As a candidate for president, Barack Obama offered himself as a clear alternative to Bush-era anti-terrorism policies. Governing has proven muddier. Yesterday, Obama announced that he will revamp, rather than reject, the system of military tribunals that President George W. Bush created to try terrorism suspects...The reaction has been fierce. The American Civil LibertiesUnion..threw Obama's words from the campaign back at him: "You can't put lipstick on a pig," it said of his efforts to revamp the commissions. Human rights groups vowed to fight Obama in court....

Obama has backed Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, expanded the war in Afghanistan and opposed prosecution of those involved in what some call torture...Yesterday's announcement was a unmistakable reversal for a man who, as a candidate, had promised to shelve the military commissions and called their use under Bush an "enormous failure."

"I have faith in America's courts," Obama said Aug. 7. "I have faith in our JAGs. As president, I'll close Guantanamo, reject the Military Commissions Act, adhere to the Geneva Conventions. Our Constitution and our Uniform Code of Military Justice provide a framework for dealing with the terrorists."