Obama's optimism was naive

US President Barack Obama has for the first time admitted that he will not close the Guantánamo Bay prison on Cuba at the end of January, as promised, but probably later on in the year. The daily Diário de Notícias is confident that the closure will be postponed by just a few months: "The only thing you can criticise the US president for is for being too optimistic. His desire to distance himself from [former US-president] George W. Bush's government and remove the stain of Guantánamo ... led him to make a compromise that also depends on the will of the US Congress ... . Obama ... now refuses to name a new deadline ..., even though he says that it will be in 2010. We should concentrate on what's important here. President Obama had the courage to admit that Guantánamo is not in keeping with America's character. And we know: if Bush's successor gets his way it will only be a few months before this stain is removed."

» full article (external link, Portuguese)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Domestic Policy, » U.S.

» To the complete press review of Thursday, November 19, 2009