By
Dan BalzThe legacy of George W. Bush continues to haunt President Obama's administration. Try as he might, the president is finding it difficult to close the books on Bush's presidency.
...The anger on the right was expected. But Obama faces equally strong reaction from the left, where there is a desire to punish Bush administration officials for their actions and to conduct a more thorough investigation of what happened, much in the way the 9-11 Commission investigated that episode.
Obama owes his presidency in part to this constituency, who rallied to him during the battle for the Democratic nomination because he presented himself as a staunch and early opponent of the war in Iraq. Now they are demanding that he acknowledge their point of view....
...Obama apparently believed he could avoid what is now happening. In the weeks during which he was weighing the release of the torture memos, there was a vigorous debate within his administration. There was, according to a senior official, considerable support among Obama's advisers for the creation of a 9-11 Commission-style investigation as an alternative to releasing the Justice Department memos. But Obama quashed it...
...Obama knows that Congress will do what Congress decides. He still opposes a national commission established through White House initiative, but has no control over how vigorously Congress may pursue these questions. In his comments Tuesday he tried to steer lawmakers away from partisan investigations, arguing that if anything were done, it should be with the cooperation of both parties.
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