Kept our values?

Barack Obama, today, talking about what has happened in the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001:

"We preserved our values. We preserved our character."

Locking up people indefinitely without trial or even charges? Claiming the right of the President to assassinate anyone, even American citizens, without the slightest right to due process? These are the "values" and "character" that have been "preserved"?