You have to almost feel sorry for liberals. I mean "almost" because frankly, their disappointment in their messiah is delicious to see.

Obama's latest outrage - according to the left - is his plan to keep the military tribunal system in place for terrorist detainees.

These are the same military tribunals that Obama believed was "an enormous failure." during the campaign.

What changed? It turns out that since there are no good options on how to adjudicate terrorist cases, the Bush system (with a few minor bones thrown to the ACLU regarding procedural matters) was the best option all along.

When witnesses put their lives on the line by giving information on terrorists to the US government, it becomes impossible to try the thugs in a regular American court. To do so would expose the names of those witnesses and the almost certain al-Qaeda revenge on their families or the witnesses themselves.

Also, some information on the terrorists was gleaned using "national technical means" which is shorthand for top secret NSA intercepts and even satellite technology. Revealing those in open court - even to a judge - is just too risky.

Taken altogether, the president decided to continue the Bush-era system. Peter Baker and David Herszenhorn of the New York Times detail the changes being contemplated:

Mr. Obama will ask for an additional 120-day delay in nine pending hearings before commissions so the administration can revamp the procedures to provide more due process to detainees, the officials said. The new system would limit the use of hearsay, ban evidence gained from cruel treatment, give defendants more latitude to pick their own lawyers and provide more protection if they do not testify.

The decision, to be announced Friday, could set off more criticism from civil libertarian and liberal groups that have increasingly complained that Mr. Obama has not made a sharper break from former President George W. Bush's terrorism policies. During last year's presidential campaign, Mr. Obama called the military commission system put in place by Mr. Bush "an enormous failure" and vowed to "reject the Military Commissions Act."