Differences: Fantasy and Reality. Campaigning and Governing. Obama and the Obama Left spent the campaign chastising the Bush Administration for Guantanamo and the treatment of terror suspects. It was a long campaign. You might think that somewhere along the way, they may have thought in a serious manner about what they were going to do in case they got their wish and had to hit the ground running. You would be wrong.

George Bush had to deal with events and reality, while the Left has had nothing to do but take the part of America's critics. Now that the ball is in their court, we see that Obama actually had no idea what he was going to do if he won, now that he's given his government a year to figure it out. That's called a lack of an exit strategy.

But, you say, no matter the reality, this order makes us look better to our international critics. So this is what it's about now? We pander to our enemies, trash the man in charge who has to make the real decisions to keep us safe from the people who want to kill us, and then try to declare ourselves the heroes. So much for hanging together.

I have a great deal of respect for the people who actually make the hard decisions and bear the scorn of their critics and none at all for the mouth-warriors at the edges of the board room all of whom, to hear them tell it, would have done it better. We've had a bunch of yammering critics around the edges complaining, whining, enabling our enemies, and trashing the responsible parties (even threatening them with prosecution!)...and now that it's time to say, "OK, you got your wish. What are you going to do?" they say, 'Give us a year and we'll get back to you.'

This whole issue is emblematic of the fantasy world that Obama has been campaigning on and that his supporters have been living in, while showing what the much vilified George Bush has actually been dealing with in the material world.

Clarice Feldman has a good piece today at PJM on what the new administration is facing, and its supporters haven't been: Guantanamo: A 'False Choice Between Our Safety and Our Ideals'? And then there's this new report: Gitmo detainees rejoin fight against U.S.