Not so bad after all, eh, Mr. President?

From today's Playbook:

THE WAR ON TERROR CONTINUES, AFTER ALL – We noted this in Playbook yesterday but Jim VandeHei, our North Star, says we should have made more of it as a conversation-driver. N.Y Times, “Obama’s War on Terror May Resemble Bush’s in Some Areas,” By Charlie Savage: “Even as it pulls back from harsh interrogations and other sharply debated aspects of George W. Bush’s ‘war on terrorism,’ the Obama administration is quietly signaling continued support for other major elements of its predecessor’s approach to fighting Al Qaeda. In little-noticed confirmation testimony recently, Obama nominees endorsed continuing the C.I.A.’s program of transferring prisoners to other countries without legal rights, and indefinitely detaining terrorism suspects without trials even if they were arrested far from a war zone. The administration has also embraced the Bush legal team’s arguments that a lawsuit by former C.I.A. detainees should be shut down based on the “state secrets” doctrine. It has also left the door open to resuming military commission trials. …

“These and other signs suggest that the administration’s changes may turn out to be less sweeping than many had hoped or feared — prompting growing worry among civil liberties groups and a sense of vindication among supporters of Bush-era policies. In an interview, the White House counsel, Gregory B. Craig, asserted that the administration was not embracing Mr. Bush’s approach to the world. But Mr. Craig also said President Obama intended to avoid any ‘shoot from the hip’ and ‘bumper sticker slogans’ approaches to deciding what to do with the counterterrorism policies he inherited. ‘We are charting a new way forward, taking into account both the security of the American people and the need to obey the rule of law,’ Mr. Craig said. ‘That is a message we would give to the civil liberties people as well as to the Bush people.’”