Obama Tested Again – Another “Calibrated” Reaction

Amen to the tenor and tone of a Washington Post article on Obama’s handling of the latest crisis in his Presidency – the thwarted terrorist attack aboard Delta/Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit from Amsterdam Christmas Day:

KAILUA, HAWAII — President Obama has performed a difficult but familiar balancing act over the past few days: ordering new security measures in the wake of an attempted airliner attack without excessively alarming the public — or triggering an outcry from civil liberties advocates.
He has done so almost entirely out of sight. On vacation in Hawaii, tucked away in a lush neighborhood where his family is renting a waterfront home, Obama dispatched surrogates back in Washington — chiefly Homeland Security Secretary Janet A. Napolitano and press secretary Robert Gibbs, who appeared on the Sunday talk shows — to reassure the public and explain his approach.

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For Obama, who campaigned on a promise of restoring respect for individual rights and shifting away from the Bush-era “war on terror,” the struggle between security and freedom is defining his presidency much as it did his predecessor’s. Three of his most important national security speeches — one at the National Archives in the spring, one announcing a troop increase in Afghanistan and one accepting the Nobel Peace prize on Dec. 10 — addressed the need for a reasonable balance between competing goals.

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If he calibrated his message, it was by allowing others to toe the national security line for the first few days. “It’s not that the president sat back and thought, ‘How do I find the middle course?’ ” an official said on Sunday. “The president was presented with the facts and said, ‘What are the steps we need to take to protect the American people and make sure they understand all the requisite steps are indeed being taken and implemented?’ “

The above article goes on to note the perils that Obama faces when he takes the middle road: with some decisions he angers liberals; with other decisions he angers conservatives. Having his seconds handle matters until he investigates all aspects of an issue, he appears weak and indecisive.

In a war on terror, timing is of the essence. It is one thing to study policy change, it is another to do it in the middle of a crisis.  Herein lies the discomfort with Obama.  Perhaps herein lies the explanation for Iran, Korea and now al-Qaeda to test his reaction times!  They more than anyone realize the import of timing.

And how many more times will the Obama administration be surprised by the determined actions of rogue states, rogue stateless terrorists and rogue former governors? Increasingly, Obama is leading the life of, well, Howard Hughes!  But he is not a reclusive leader in industry.  He is the reclusive leader of a major player in international politics. If the US falls deeper into debt and respect for Obama’s leadership abilities is further questioned by his delayed responses, US international prestige will suffer further.  For this Obama must accept responsibility.

If the US appears more vulnerable, then the President’s policy of “calibrating” his response will have made future incidents more than likely to  happen.  He needs to strike another important balance:  That between calibrated and swift responses to foreign and domestic threats. If not, he may someday find himself in a fast-moving, multi-stage crisis that would leave calibrated responses in the dust.

HOWEVER – here is a theory.  There may have been reasons beyond the President’s control why he did not come before the public after the first attack. Because of security fears, he and his family may have been relocated.

Another view of his not coming forward in person would be that to do so may have made the situation seem more dire than it already was.  It would underline that the situation was fully in control if his seconds cared for it publicly.  It also would have shored up those travelers who would have been apprehensive of flying again.

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HotAir – Quotes of the day

VotingFemale Speaks! – Hey DHS? Start crotch groping all male air travellers like you groped all women’s boobs a few years ago

Frugal Cafe – Obama’s on Vacation, So Iranian Civilian Deaths & Terrorist Airplane Attacks Will Just Have to Wait (video)

SisterToldjah – Napolitano: “System worked” in terror attack attempt on Detroit-bound plane

Tagged: calibrate, CONSERVATIVE BLOG NETWORK

Posted in: Barack Obama, LEADERSHIP, MILITARY - US, TERRORISM, YEMEN