Two theories are extensionally equivalent if and only if they produce the same results. It is often said, for example, that rule utilitarianism is extensionally equivalent to act utilitarian, since the rule "If you're in situation X, maximize overall utility" produces the same results as the act-utilitarian injunction to "Maximize overall utility." The Obama administration claims to have a new theory of enemy combatants, and even new terminology, but so far the Obama theory has produced no results that differ from the Bush theory. Will it? Only time will tell.
I doubt that those who voted for Obama wanted the same results. They wanted both a new theory and different results. Obama appears to be giving them a new theory and the same results. Obama is to Bush as rule utilitarianism is to act utilitarianism: an improvement in name only. See here for an interesting New York Times op-ed column by Harvard law professor Noah Feldman.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 