Is Obama Bush III ?

"I am pleased that President Obama has now adopted this view," said Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee last year, who lost the election to Obama.

Ari Fleischer, who was Bush's first press secretary, said Obama "should acknowledge his campaign criticisms were wrong."

"With some minor changes, he really is following the same path President Bush pursued," he said.

Obama also this week angered core supporters by changing his mind and ordering his lawyers to try to block the court-ordered release of dozens of photographs said to depict abuse of detainees, saying the pictures could "inflame anti-American opinion."

* Obama is walking a tightrope with his liberal supporters.

They want him to close the book on the Bush years and hold accountable those responsible for harsh interrogation procedures such as waterboarding, which they call torture.