Posted on 01/03/2010 6:44:32 AM PST by Kaslin
Take President Obama’s poor timing in response to a failed terrorist attack on a U.S. jetliner, add the politicization of that event by his surrogates and a ridiculous message by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and what do you get?
A complete failure when it comes to a commander-in-chief’s most important job: Protecting Americans from harm.
“It was arrogant and stupid,” one Democrat strategist, who supported Obama the candidate, admits privately.
“The president needed to set the initial tone on a matter of such importance,” said Mark Rozell, professor of public policy at George Mason University. “Press secretaries don't calm and reassure an anxious public – that’s the president's role.”
The symbolism of Obama’s press secretary speaking out while the president vacationed in Hawaii was all wrong, he said – “Especially when you add the Homeland Security secretary's incredible comment that the system worked.”
It all contributed to an impression of an administration unprepared to deal with a security threat or a real crisis.
“The president's silence for three days is perhaps the hardest of all to understand,” Rozell added.
As for the Bush comparisons that have become the fabric of any discussion of Obama’s leadership, well, sorry – Barack Obama is president today, not George W. Bush. So man-up and lead.
“Americans probably wanted to see toughness from Obama in this case, and some interpreted the lack of response as the opposite,” said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato. “ ‘The system worked’ mantra made the situation worse.”
The White House itself politicized the event Monday when it sent deputy press secretary Bill Burton out with a statement outlining Robert Gibbs’ Sunday-talk-show-crawl, in which Gibbs made clear the administration is “winding down the war in Iraq and increasing resources in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where those terrorists are.”
“First of all,” says former CIA operative Bob Baer, an outspoken critic of U.S. intelligence-gathering and anti-terrorism efforts, “what happened on Christmas Day has nothing to do with Iraq or Afghanistan.
“I am unclear on what that message has to do with what happened on the plane.”
The problem for Obama originates with Obama himself: His policies and rhetoric since the day he became president have created an illusion that we don’t have a terror problem. He and his team even have gone as far as to remove "war on terror” from the White House lexicon, replacing it with "overseas contingency operation."
What we want from our president is gravity and leadership. The first hint of a deficit in those attributes came in November, when Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan murdered a dozen fellow soldiers and wounded 20 more at Fort Hood.
It took days for Obama to react; when he finally spoke publicly, he did several "shout-outs" to the crowd before even mentioning the tragedy.
“I cringed,” admits the Democratic strategist, who specializes in messaging.
Typically, Americans unify behind a president when a threat to the country occurs. Thus, it is politically very risky for Republicans to criticize Obama's leadership in this area.
Yet Americans are not completely foolish; they can figure things out for themselves, and they don’t need Republicans pointing out the obvious.
“I suspect that it is more likely in the coming days that there will be a push toward unity by both parties and that the blame-casting will subside,” Rozell speculated.
“We can unify behind this in Congress. It is one thing that both parties agree on, leadership and accountability in keeping us safe,” assures U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee.
Hoekstra, however, is very critical of the White House for its lack of cooperation in examining how the government has failed on such incidents as Fort Hood. It makes him and other critics wonder if the administration is throwing up roadblocks because it is concerned that the story line will become "asleep at the switch."
Obama's latest admission that the system did not work has helped, to some degree, to reassure people that he understands the gravity of the situation and is committed to dealing with terrorists.
Yet as Toby Harnden, editor of the UK Telegraph, quipped: “Obama may have rather smugly given himself a ‘B+’ for his 2009 performance but he gets an ‘F’ for the events that led to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarding a Detroit-bound plane in Amsterdam with a PETN bomb sewn into his underpants.”
Barry is so over his head, so out of his league. I place the real blame for this disaster on the left and those who supported and elected this cretin.
I would give BO’s failure to lead an I for Incomplete.
My kids keep chiding me for being too harsh on Der Leader. This morning I was talking about how terrorist attacking us are of Muslim or ME origin. My youngest daughter (22) asked me why am I not so harsh on extremists Christians. My response was “When they start blowing up planes and killing thousands of Americans in one act, then I will take up arms against her church”.
I have a 99.9999% feeling that this will NEVER happen. The love of Christ is way more acceptable than killing the non-Muslim believer.
That would be true IF the CIC cared about American lives, or the sanctity of life in general. We are talking about a president whose most important legislation in the Illinois Senate said that it was okay for the attending doctors and nurses to stand at a table and watch a baby that survived an abortion die on the table in front of them. How important is your life to him, do you think?
“Man up and lead.”
How’s he going to fake THAT?
“... “It was arrogant and stupid...”
Finally, the Obamaloon minions are beginning to use the words for the Kenyan Klod that the rest of us have known for years.
obamao is a follower and a “fellow-traveler”, not a leader.
He has no work ethic because all his life things were given to him. He is quite obviously a spoiled brat.
He does not know what makes America great because he did not grow up in the U.S. We don’t even know for sure that he was born on U.S. soil.
He has made it clear to anyone with a brain (which excludes liberals) that he does not like the country he was elected to “lead”.
He is commander-in-chief in name only. He has no ability to command.
America and the free world are in grave danger with this poseur as president.
You said it all
He enters the oval orifice at 10AM.
You got that right. And the other part is that he knows he is in over his head and he is hiding.
Zero believes all the propaganda about him being a leader...just as Clintoon did...and Carter before that. Fools!!!
He scares me far worse than Clinton, but I look in the eyes of his advisors, like Napolitano, and I just don’t see much going on, much like many of Clintons advisors like Robert B Reicccchhhh and Warren “Andy Gump” Christopher.
Of course he means for the blame casting by Republicans to stop. Does he really think the Dems, who have blamed Bush and Republicans for everything for years, will suddenly stop because of a need for national unity? This guy is either intellectually dishonest or extremely naive, or both.
Our strategy has been misconceived since 9/11/01. The enemy alliance of Saudi Arabia-Yemen-Pakistan is not conquered, occupied, or reconstructed. Thousand of Americans, irreplaceable heroes all, are dead or maimed to bestow on the "Iraqis" an entirely undeserved favor of overthrowing their dictator, a job which belonged to them alone.
And the mullahs in Teheran, who would not have dared to dream of such a favorable sequence of events after 9/11, are greatly strengthened.
If not for the disaster of Iraq, the Manchurian Marxist would not be in the White House.
Now, when the real war starts (as it must), the result of Bush's strategic incompetence, founded as it was on delusions about human nature, religion, and race, will cost us fearfully.
If you are an Alinsky acolyte and your main objective is to revolutionize America, then a war on terror is indeed a nuisance, a la John Kerry, and will be thought of in terms of crimes committed. Toss in a childhood learned sympathy for islam, and it’s entirely consistent with what we see and hear out of the Obama administration.
Vice President Cheney is absolutely correct in asserting that we are more at risk now. Fort Hood and Detroit are evidence of this, IMHO.
“He scares me far worse than Clinton....”
Clinton never scared me (perhaps because he had a Republican Congress who would keep him in line). Also, I do not believe that Clinton hated the United States. Clinton did, though, disgust me.
Barry, on the other hand, both scares me and disgusts me. It is clear Barry hates the United States and has nothing but contempt for the US Constitution. Barry is the most dangerous person ever to be president of the US, and that is based on his hatred of the US and the fact he is such a lightweight who would not recognize a threat to the US if it bit him on the nose. That is a fatal combination for the United States.
” that the blame-casting will subside,” Rozell speculated. “
It better not.
Republicans better ramp up the pressure instead of folding.
Many national security questions must be answered.
Why did it take three hours to inform the Commander in Chief that there had been another terrorist attack ?
Where was the Commander in Chief and what was he doing ?
Who made the decision not to inform the Commander in Chief ?
Or does Barry routinely give orders that he is not to be disturbed..unless something big breaks on ESPN ?
Who was in charge while Barry was doing whatever it was that he was doing ?
Memo to the New York Times-Nobody believes that he was singing
Christmas carols
as you ridiculously and desperately wrote trying to give him cover.
Why did Barry only spend 15 minutes , after hearing about the attack, before going to the gym ?
If the terror attack was such a catastrophic intelligence failure, why did the Commander in Chief continue
his 24/7 Spring Break on Steroids Extravaganza for 10 days ?
The image of Barry snorkeling in his Speedo
and giggling and golfing for 10 full days after the attack tells us all we need to know about how this slob views national security.
Besides making us want to vomit.
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