ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY LACK CHARACTER:

This is a president who campaigned on the need for change, who was deeply skeptical of the national security state, who vowed to close the Guantánamo detention center, and who criticized his predecessor for circumventing Congress. He has changed his mind on all those issues. He is on a track that will at least match George W. Bush's use of executive action. 

But then, the presidency isn't a job that can be made into what the jobholder wants it to be. Maneuvering room is limited. Domestic and international conditions can't be ignored. The job shapes the jobholder.

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