Obama Continues Controversial Bush-Era Policies — and That's a Good Thing, Says Book

Hey, the executive is accountable, says former Justice Department apparatchik, Jack Goldsmith

At the outset of his new book, Power and Constraint, Harvard law professor Jack Goldsmith makes the case that President Obama has continued many of his predecessor's most controversial counterterrorism policies. From preventive detention to the state secrets privilege to military commissions, Goldsmith asserts, Obama has adopted practices that he criticized in his presidential campaign.

This claim of continuity rankles Obama supporters who believe that the president's approach to counterterrorism evinces a respect for the rule of law that his predecessor lacked. But the claim is not a new one. It has been put forward both by conservatives who consider the continuity a validation of President Bush's approach and by liberals who consider it a betrayal. Indeed, even Obama's staunchest defenders acknowledge some unexpected similarities between the two administrations in national security matters.