Within the Democratic platform:
We are substantially reducing the population at Guantánamo Bay without adding to it. And we remain committed to working with all branches of government to close the prison altogether because it is inconsistent with our national security interests and our values.
Administration officials lay blame for the failed initiative on Congress, including Democrats who deserted the president, sometimes in droves. The debate, they said, became suffused with fear — fear that transferring detainees to American soil would create a genuine security threat, fear that closing Guantanamo would be electoral suicide. Some Democratic lawmakers pleaded with the White House not to press too hard, according to administration officials.
The White House asserts it was fully engaged in the effort to close Guantanamo.
So, transferring the captured terrorists to a prison in the United States was such a political liability that congressional Democrats were begging the administration to lay off this issue . . . and yet it remains the party’s goal.
Shouldn’t the party pay some price for having a pledge in its platform that everyone knows it will never keep?