The opposition to Mr. Brennan had been largely confined to liberal blogs, and there was not an expectation he would face a particularly difficult confirmation process. Still, the episode shows that the C.I.A.’s secret detention program remains a particularly incendiary issue for the Democratic base, making it difficult for Mr. Obama to select someone for a top intelligence post who has played any role in the agency’s campaign against Al Qaeda since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Funny, I could have sworn I read liberal blogs and found myself the odd man out raising the issue of Obama having no commitment to shutting secret detention facilities.

Closing GTMO on the other hand, well everybody just loves them curtains.

Firstly, if that counts for anything, how you liked 5 years in Iraq ?

Secondly, the hindsight thing isn’t an asset if you’re charged with implementing policy in response to events. The returns on these policies haven’t exactly been good nor necessary in hindsight. Who do you think, given the politically convenient chance, wouldn’t reject them ?

Cheney and Bush didn’t go into office saying “Damn, we gonna get to torture up ourselves some brown people”. They were responding to events out of fear. Their justification for doing so was the same as this guy’s.

Now when they say history repeats itself, they don’t mean literally. But you should be able to figure out just how non-differently that would have worked out from someone who already defended it.

*Apart from rendition, which as far as I can determine, nobody is rejecting, Obama included.