THEY WERE JUST PARTISAN DIFFERENCES, NOT POLICY:

Critics of President George W. Bush's anti-terrorism efforts, mainly Democrats and some Republicans, rejoiced when Barack Obama was elected. They were convinced that what they considered the post-Sept. 11 trampling of constitutional rights and civil liberties would end.

As a candidate, Obama, a former constitutional law professor, promised to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as well as to end indefinite detention and the rendition of terrorism suspects to other countries, where they often were tortured. He also vowed greater accountability and transparency in the conduct of war.

Things look different today. In his new book, "Power and Constraint: The Accountable Presidency After 9/11," Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard Law School professor who served in the Office of Legal Counsel under Bush and objected to some of that administration's tactics, writes: "The Obama administration would continue almost all of its predecessor's policies, transforming what had seemed extraordinary under the Bush regime into the 'new normal' of American counter-terrorism policy."

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