What about Bush's "stupid" Iraq war?

Obama now wants Bush's secretary of defense, Robert Gates, to stay. Huh? Gates supported the successful surge and the change in counterinsurgent strategy. Sen. Obama opposed the surge, attempted to stop it, and predicted failure. Candidate Obama promised to have combat troops out within a year or 16 months of his administration, but President Bush and the Iraqi government now tentatively agree to have all troops out by 2011, a timetable unfathomable but for Bush's courageous and ultimately successful decision to surge.

What about the Guantanamo Bay detainees, the "evil" interrogation techniques and "unlawful" wiretaps?

Obama -- actually faced with governing -- seems now to understand the complex legal questions Bush grappled with. Gitmo contains some really, really bad people, and Obama's security advisers now appreciate the complex legal and logistical problems. Where to move the detainees? Moving them onto American soil creates a possible target for terror attacks. And what legal rights and procedures apply in moving the detainees to America? As for the Bush surveillance program -- which allegedly "shredded" the Constitution -- Team Obama signals an intention to retain many, if not most, of these "dreaded" policies.

Eric Holder, Obama's choice for attorney general, served as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration. He agreed with Bush on a very important policy -- one opposed by liberal icons like Al Gore. Holder, in a 2002 interview, agreed that terrorists must be interrogated so we can learn information on their cells or future plans, and that the Geneva Conventions limited the amount of information interrogators could get. Clearly they were not prisoners of war, said Holder, and were, therefore, not covered by the protections of the Geneva Conventions. However, argued Holder, if we want our own prisoners treated well, we should treat the detainees very humanely and in a manner consistent with the Geneva Conventions -- a position that Bush ultimately came to.

So where does this leave us?

Bush wasn't so evil after all. And running for and governing as president are two different things. But don't expect the Obama-loving media to notice or care.