President Barack Obama shouldn't have assumed his Democratic allies in Congress were willing to pay for the shutdown of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They weren't, at least not without a plan.

Two top Obama allies called the approach a mistake. The president's Republican critics called the rebuke a reason to keep open the detention facility for suspected terrorists. And Obama's top military adviser called for more details.

What emerged for the White House was a clear choice: If Obama wants to close Guantanamo, he'd better come up with a step-by-step plan. Otherwise, the 240 suspected terrorists stay at the U.S. Navy-run base.

"We're saying, 'Mr. President, give us the plan,'" Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said Sunday.

Democrats and Republicans alike have pushed Obama for specifics on how he could keep a promise to close its Guantanamo prison by early 2010. In a sharp rebuke, lawmakers last week denied Obama's request for $81 million to move suspected terrorists to undetermined alternatives.

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and Obama ally, conceded that the White House stumbled.

"Well, it was a mistake for us to entertain putting money — $80 million — in for the transfer of these detainees until the president's plan was released," he said.

Obama's fellow Democrats denied him funding to move the suspected terrorists while Republicans latched onto a message that helped the minority GOP drive sustained headlines for the first time in months.

"Well, I don't think you can convince the American people that you can bring the people from Gitmo to their states and they will be safe," said Sen. Richard Shelby, a Republican.

The not-in-my-backyard chorus drove Obama to deliver a speech defending his decision to close the facility, proposed during the campaign and delivered during his second full day in power. Yet lawmakers and Obama's own advisers remained unsure after the speech how, exactly, the president would make good on his vow to close the symbol of the United States' detention of suspected terrorists.

When Obama didn't specify the mechanics for closing the prison, his allies were left scratching their heads and his critics asking why the need to shut it down, given that some of the prisoners were likely to go to scaled-down versions of Guantanamo anyway.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Republican who endorsed Obama's candidacy and has called for Guantanamo's closing, said Obama went to Congress prematurely.

"I think that's the message that came out of Congress: We can't give you $80 million," said Powell, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

"There's a lot of internal home resistance to bringing these people into the country. So you come forward with a plan that makes some sense and you tell us how you're going to resolve all of these cases and do it in a way that we can support and then maybe we can move forward," Powell said.

The top U.S. military officer is also awaiting a decision from Obama.

"We're working hard now to figure out what the options are and what the best one would be," said Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen. "And that really is a decision the president is going to have to make, certainly in meeting this deadline of what we do."

Boxer and Shelby spoke on CNN's "State of the Union." Durbin spoke with NBC's "Meet the Press." Powell appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation." Mullen appeared on ABC's "This Week."

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