In the early days of the Obama Administration there were three bright spots: his policy towards Iran, his policy towards Israel and his promise to shut down GITMO. It seemed, at least early on, that he was serious about closing GITMO. But today? Not so much:

The Defense Department official in charge of closing the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has resigned after only seven months in the job, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

Why is he leaving? Personal issues:

Phillip Carter, who was named deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee policy in April, resigned last Friday because of “personal issues,” a Pentagon official said. Mr. Carter could not be reached for comment and no other reasons were given for his departure.

And what kind of personal issues might those be? The story goes on to note that " departure comes as the administration has acknowledged that it will not be able to close the prison by Jan. 22, the self-imposed deadline Mr. Obama announced immediately after taking office.

Now, I can't say for sure there is any linkage between his leaving and Obama's inability to keep his promise. Is it easy to move all those prisoners from GITMO to another place? No. Not physically, but still not impossible, either. Politically, however? Well, I think it says a lot about Obama's character--as a friend put it, "conflict avoidant to a fault"--that he's abandoned his signature foreign policy issue. Where is the soaring rhetoric on this one? Moving speeches about the Constitution and all that? Obama is rapidly becoming a tremendous disappointment in every aspect of his presidency.