"...For seven years, President George W. Bush tried to frighten the American public — and successfully cowed Congress — with bullying and disinformation. On Thursday, President Obama told the truth. It was a moment of political courage that will make this country safer.

Mr. Obama was exactly right when he said Americans do not have to choose between security and their democratic values. By denying those values, the Bush team fed the furies of anti-Americanism, strengthened our enemies and made the nation more vulnerable.

Such clarity of thought is unlikely to end the partisan posturing. It certainly didn't quiet former Vice President Dick Cheney, who was fear-mongering in full force on Thursday. But we hope that lawmakers who voted this week against closing the prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba — starting with the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid — were listening closely. ...

...Mr. Obama vowed to deal with the rest of the prisoners under the law and the Constitution, but forthrightly admitted he wasn't sure how. There are proposals to create a new "preventive detention" regime that we are not convinced is needed.

As he moves forward, we hope Mr. Obama bears in mind a point he made on Thursday. The problem is not the crime of terrorism, which the judicial system can normally handle. It is the way Mr. Bush undermined that system — and this country's reputation and security — with his policies of arbitrary detention and abuse."

NYT, Ther Real Path to Security