Could Obama have handled the Christmas Day attack any worse?; UPDATED

posted at 12:05 pm on December 27, 2009 by Cassy Fiano
[ Obama ]   

The nation spent a good part of their Christmas Day reliving the fear of 9-11 all over again. This was thanks to an attempted bombing aboard NWA Flight 253, which only failed because of a faulty detonator. Had the detonator not failed, we’d have had a horrible tragedy on Christmas Day. Yet Obama has done nothing. As of today, there’s not even an official statement on the White House website. This is the same guy who loves being on primetime TV, who soaks up media attention like no other president has… yet now, suddenly, he’s silent?

He’s also strangely less transparent than the Bush administration was when it comes to our national security. Like with the Hasan shooting, the White House has been very tight-lipped about the bombing.

While Hoekstra and King were briefed by the White House about the Detroit incident, the pair were also chafing yesterday at what they said was the Obama Administration’s tight control on information about the Detroit incident. As with the shooting at Ft. Hood in November, the White House has ordered federal agencies not to provide briefings or answer inquiries from members of Congress, leaving all such contacts to be handled by the White House.

“I don’t think I ever saw that throughout President Bush’s time in the White House. I could call directly to the director of the CIA or the [National Counterterrorism Center] and get whatever briefings I wanted,” Hoekstra said. He called the briefing limits “totally inappropriate,” but said the White House maintained the orders were needed because of the ongoing criminal investigation.

I’m not one to think that federal agencies should divulge all they know to the media, but shouldn’t they at least be available to brief members of Congress? It makes Obama seem more egomaniacal than usual. It comes across like this is more about control than keeping the nation safe.

But of course, how could Obama brief federal agencies on what they can tell members of Congress if he hasn’t even responded to the situation yet? He was told about what happened, and then went back to enjoying his vacation in Hawaii… in his $8.9 million compound. Fifteen minutes after he was told about what happened, he went to the gym. He followed the gym with a game of golf. Even liberals can see how messed up his reaction has been.

It’s December 26th, and the last of my guests arrive keenly aware of what happened over the skies of Detroit. Across America, everybody’s gut tightens and old fears and old wounds re-open.

Meanwhile, the president continues his vacation. News that he hit the gym 15 minutes after being briefed on the attack – and had a lovely time playing golf later that day – begin to trickle in.

America lucked out this holiday season. It’s as simple as that. Something terrible could have happened and It was the bravery of passengers, and the ineptitude of a would-be terrorist, that prevented it.

Not the police bottlenecking the only road into the airport. Not the nice lady making sure my liquids were in the right containers. Not the german shepherd sniffing my boy parts.

It was luck.

And if you’re like me – that scared the crap out of you. You probably wanted assurances. What will be done to prevent this? How are we reacting?

If you’re like me, you’re not looking for Attorney General Eric Holder, or Representative Pete King to be telling you how it could have been worse or how it will be managed.

When the nation is attacked, I expect to be informed and hopefully calmed by the President of the United States.

So I ask, one more time – of this President who understands that how a message is delivered is just as important as what the message is – What is wrong with this picture?

… This is no “My Pet Goat,” or sharing birthday cake with John McCain while New Orleans flooded. But it’s close enough that it’s making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up… and I like this President.

Some things are too important to delegate to a subordinate, or manage through a blackberry.

Actually, this is far worse than “My Pet Goat”. Liberals like to use the “My Pet Goat” incident to make Bush look bad, but let’s compare. Bush was interrupted, in a roomful of children, and given the news about the worst terrorist attack ever on US soil. Bush stayed calm (what did liberals expect him to do, panic in front of the children?), and when he was finished with the kids, immediately gave a press conference addressing the attack at the school. Obama wasn’t in the middle of reading a book to a group of inner-city children. He was in Hawaii. Sitting around in a mansion with his family. He had no other obligations at the time. Instead of addressing the scared country, he went to the gym and then played golf.

Bush took less than an hour to address the country after the nation was attacked by terrorists. Obama’s had two days, and he hasn’t said or done anything.

On top of all this, the Obama administration has responded to the heroism of the passengers aboard NWA Flight 253 by restricting passengers from getting out of their seats at all during the last hour of a flight. So if someone starts trying to do something suspicious… like, I don’t know, trying to blow up the plane… passengers need to stay in their seats and not do anything to try to stop them at all, thankyouverymuch. Typical of Obama, punishing the heroes while ignoring the attack itself.

All things considered, could Obama possibly have handled the attack any worse? He’s sending a strong message here, and that message is simple.

America, we’re on our own.

UPDATE: Shockingly Unsurprisingly, Steve Marmel has taken down his blog post criticizing Obama. Good little liberals must stay in line.

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary, or follow her on Twitter!

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