Update2: OMG - He's Sleep Walking It! Obama Saves Self From Tasty Waves, Cool Buds ... To Speak!

Update2: This has to be the most perfunctory speech the orator in chief has ever given. It's as if he resents being pulled away from his vacation to make it. Where's the energy? The personal connection? It isn't there. He's literally reading a press release and it shows. Where is all that charisma we've heard so much about? It's as if the issue doesn't even interest him at all.

Ah, yes, Obama to speak. I guess the surf was getting a might too choppy back home. Obama to speak? Damn, I swear I've heard that before. Heavens what will he say? More importantly, what might he not say? No prime-time address? Well, this is a distraction for him while on vacation and all that.

The White House says President Barack Obama is preparing to make his first public statement on the Christmas Day terrorist attack and describe U.S. efforts to protect the nation’s skies.

Obama is scheduled to speak soon after 3 p.m. EST about the government’s steps to protect the nation’s travelers and the reviews he has already ordered.

Deputy press secretary Bill Burton said Monday the president believes it is critical that the government learn from the attack on a Detroit-bound airliner and take the necessary measures to prevent future acts of terrorism.

Comments

[Crimefyter]

The prez speaks now because it took only three days for TOTUS to get from D.C. to Hawaii. TOTUS must have flown prop.

[Anon]

Maybe he could start by letting Janet N. know that when the only reason the plane doesn't blow up is because the particular terrorist onboard is too stupid to work his own bomb...that doesn't count as the system working.

[rsg]

Obambi Administration = Lawyers at war.

We're guaranteed to lose with that approach.

Obambi Adminstration = Academics with zero real life business experience.

No economic recovery in the near or mid-range future.

Obambi Adminstration = t-minus 3 years and counting....until goodbye.

[Rob Crawford]

"It's as if the issue doesn't even interest him at all."

That's because it doesn't.

[Cool Games for Girls]

Wow I missed it. Thanks for doing a job I never want to do again--brave through an Obama speech. Seriously I have a really horrible feeling what's going to happen in 2010 thanks to lawyers at war attitude.

[Anon]

I wonder if Barry is going to explain why forcing passengers to sit with their hands visible and not go to the bathroom an hour before landing is going to prevent future acts of terrorist?

I really didn't think anything could stop the TSA stupidity about liquids and shoes, but no pillows or blankets and no bathroom an hour before landing.

I mean, um, do they think the terrorist will be so dumb that he won't think of detonating his bomb 1.5 hours before take off or that he might go into the bathroom to do it instead of right there in his seat?

We're fortunate that it appears that so far, only the really bad terrorists have tried to blow up airplanes. My opinion, the real Al Quada hasn't made a serious effort to blow up any airplanes, I don't think the 3 oz. rule and taking your belt buckle off are things that are going to be effective against a trained suicidal terrorist.

How can anyone release these rules with a straight face, let alone have any belief they could be even marginally effective??

[Jeff]

the Milli Vanilli President ...

wow, without a telepromter he really does shine :)

[Nick Reynolds]

ummm . . . it's not terrorism it's a police matter?? maybe??
where's my surf board, dude?? hang loose america.

[Les Nessman]

Guys, can you just let him eat his waffles already?

[newton]

Obama soaks up the sun while America (pretty much) burns... Nice...

[Fatty Bolger]

Come on now, this is just another one of those distractions* that keep Obama from doing his real job - remaking America into a socialist utopia. Naturally he'll seem a little disinterested.

*http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/24/AR2008042402983.html

[Anon]

This is another version of Obama voting "present"

[Mr. Sauce]

Only about 4000 on the no fly list, after all these years. What a joke.

[MarkJ]

Tomorrow's headline...today!

"ROBERT GIBBS: "Uhh, umm, err, yeah, Obama phoned in his speech, but it's a VERY GOOD speech."

[Anon]

What I don't understand though is if this guy was on ANY LIST of suspected terrorists then why did he get a visa and why wasn't he singled out for extra security?

Maybe I am missing something, but isn't the point of these lists of terrorists and their associates that when they pop up say boarding a flight to the US with no luggage, that they get some extra scrutiny? If nothing happens to the person who is on a list of suspected terrorists, why do we bother keeping it?

THe truth is that Homeland Security and TSA are black holes of bureaucratic incompentance, they were under Bush and they are now under OBama.

[Lou Ramsdower]

Loved the casual, open-necked shirt he was rocking while giving it. Were his Hawaiian shirts in the laundry?

[buzz]

He DID inherent those planes from the Bush Administration, you know. Uh....and the airports too. And if you check the record, you will find blankets and pillows on airplanes during the Bush administration. Some say we can't fly ever and others say jello only comes in the green color....Obama says that's a false choice. As he have said before, he's against planes blowing up in the sky.

[someguy]

Can the President even be bothered to put on a tie before addressing the nation?

[Anon]

Obviously, no.

Obama has no idea what it means to be Presidential, he is so clueless as to how the President of the United States is supposed to act he can't even fake it.

Does anyone want to take bets on how many times he's going to have appeared on Oprah, Jay Leno, SNL, and who knows what other entertainment show in the next 3+ years?

[Chest Rockwell]

Seemed rather business like to me. What do you guys want him to do, froth at the mouth( with a tie on! ).

As long as the mistakes are corrected, I don't care if he shows up in his pj's.

[Anon]

I don't think its too much to ask that the "leader of the free world" take enough time out of his vacation to put on a suit and tie when talking about a narrowly averted terrorist attack.

It would also have been nice if he'd maybe done a conference call with Janet to keep her from claiming that the system worked and making a complete fool of herself.

Me, I'm glad to see her make a fool of herself since I believe her to be a fool. But, I would think its in Obama's interest that she appear at least minimally competant.

[TTT]

Obama is sad that the 'chickens could not come home to roost' once again.

I mean, Bill Ayers supports terrorism and Rev. Wright says AmeriKKKa deserved 9/11. How could Obama's opinion be dramatically different.

I claim that Obama is not really on America's side.

[Jeanie]

Rockwell,

Yes, I agree that if he does the job well, that would be good enough.
As it is, he is NOT doing the job well at all. What I would like is for Obama himself to care.

[TTT]

Obambi Adminstration = t-minus 3 years and counting....until goodbye.

t-7 you mean. You don't seriously think he will lose in 2012, do you? ACORN will have had 4 years to ensure that each African American (who still approve of Obama 96%) gets to vote 3 times.

The healthcare bill, the stimulus, all are really bribes to increase turnout of blacks and hard leftists.

[TTT]

There is a reason China has had absolutely no terrorist attack, even though they buy just as much oil from the Middle East as we do.

They don't pussyfoot around with political correctness.

[Anon]

I don't think you can compare China and the US in terms of their mid-east policy, the terrorists aren't targeting the US because we buy their oil.

If the economy recovers at all, then I think Obama gets re-elected, Palin's supporters are totally delusional if they think she can win against him, I don't know enough about Pawelenty to know how he would do, but the GOP is brutally short of new blood these days.

[Henry Bowman]

You write "He's literally reading a press release and it shows."
He's reading the press release because the teleprompter-in-chief was not available, that's all.

[TTT]

It pains me to say this.....

But a failed terrorist attack is quickly forgotten (particularly with the MSM's corrupt burying).

A small successful attack (100-200 casualties), might actually save lives in the long run, by awakening more Americans to how insane the left actually is, and keeping them out of office for the next 20 years. The next President would be a real swashbuckling hawk.

So that would be a net positive. A small attack would help us prevent a really BIG attack (nuclear, biological) by waking everyone up. Sad but true.

I hate to say it, but the law of unintended consequences can work in funny ways.

Plus, if this causes the beleaguered airlines to lose even more revenue (particularly with new technologies like Telepresence now available for corporate travelers), they might institute their own measures with the common sense that a private sector enterprise would necessarily have.

[Anon]

Sorry, the last swashbuckling GOP hawk we had in office did a pretty bad job in the war on terror and in fact he was SO BAD that the country elected a completely inexperienced, left wing politician with no experience at national politics who thinks he's the second coming of FDR/JFK.

Unintended consequences indeed.

if the only way the GOP can get back in office is playing on the unrealistic, paranoid fears of US citizens then they don't deserve to regain control of Congress or the White House.

[Scrapiron]

Reading every word of a prepared statement on the same level as a 3rd grader gives a book report. That's the mark of the worst President ever. He seemed so sad the bomber failed and was injured. Must be a friend of his.

[red]

Sorry, the last swashbuckling GOP hawk we had in office did a pretty bad job in the war on terror and in fact he was SO BAD that the country elected a completely inexperienced, left wing politician with no experience at national politics who thinks he's the second coming of FDR/JFK. ---

[red]

if the only way the GOP can get back in office is playing on the unrealistic, paranoid fears of US citizens then they don't deserve to regain control of Congress or the White House ----

Only a lefty with an extremely tenuous connection to reality (but I repeat myself) would try to acuse Republicans of playing on unrealistic, paranoid fears THREE DAYS after an unsuccessful attempt to bring down an airliner.

[Anon]

I'm not a lefty, I simply don't share the view that we are "at war" with Islam, that we should refuse to let Muslims in the country or that we need to surrender any more rights/privacy to stupid pretend security measures like having our shoes confiscated or not being able to go the bathroom.

I also don't think this particular terrorist is Al Quada proper, Al Quada I don't believe is quite that stupid. That isn't to say terrorism and specifically islamic terrorism is not a threat, it is, but it isn't a threat that demands crazy responses like invading Iraq, torturing people or stripping American citizens of every shred of their dignitity.

The odds of being struck by lightening are far higher than being the victim of a successful terrorist attack, we need to keep things in perspective.

I also think that the GOP trying to go back to the 2004-2006 "Democrats are soft on security" angle is not going to work.

The GOP needs to stick to the economy and the debacle that Obama is presiding over and not go back to Karl Rove and Bush's failed agenda.

[Toads]

Bush had other drawbacks, but he did a superb job in the WoT.

No attacks in the 7 years after 9/11. Plus, a democracy in the toughest of places, Iraq. We actually WON the war in Iraq (which the majority of the public agrees).

stripping American citizens of every shred of their dignitity.

This is what the left does very well. Take anti-male divorce laws for starters.

and not go back to Karl Rove and Bush's failed agenda.

Only supporters of terrorists (i.e. Obama supporters) could say that the superb success of the Bush WoT efforts was a failure.

[Anon]

Sorry, I disagree completely and I am not an Obama supporter.

The Iraq War was pointless, stupid and incredibly poorly planned. It's easy to take credit for something that has "not happened"...but I do remember all those terrorist plots that the Bush Administration talked about that all turned out to be drug trafficking busts.

Bush was a terrible president, he squandered a once in a century opportunity by invading a fourth rate power for no good reason and doing a bad job at that.

Nothing on immigration.
Expanded the federal government by leaps and bounds.
Raised the debt ceiling.
Nothing for the middle class.
No child left behind just as useless as every other federal education plan.
Nothing to revitalize manufacturing sector.
Legalized torture.

His entire adminitration was a freaking disgrace from start to finish with the exception of his supreme court appointments, but don't foret he wanted to appoint the bats**t crazy and wholly unqualified Harriet Meirs as his first choice.

Oh, and his pathetic performance as president is EXACTLY WHY OBAMA GOT ELECTED. The country would never have elected such a total fraud if it wasn't for all of Bush's combined errors.

Bush Sucked.
Obama Sucks. Obama's destruction of the U.S. domestic economy and enslavement of a coming majority of people to the federal government will end up being more destructive to the country in the long run, but that doesn't make Bush suck less, it only means Obama sucks more.

[Lisa Graas]

WORST PRESIDENT EVER!

[Toads]

Anon,

er..... Bush is not the reason Obama defeated Hilary in the primary. Get a clue.

The Iraq War (which we have won as of 2009) is precisely the reason a large number of genuine AQ terrorist attacks have stopped. It is the reason the tendency of Arab suicide bombing (whether AQ or Palestinian) has stopped.

Period.

[Anon]

Bush is the reason that a blowup doll with "Democrat" printed on its head would likely have beaten John McCain. He and the go-along GOP Congress that enabled him are absolutely the reason why we now have an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress and the most liberal and unqualified president in American history.

I'm not going to re-argue all the issues around the Iraq War, but suffice it so say that Al Quada was never HQ'd in Iraq, never had any presence in Iraq until the invasion....and please don't start with the 'we started a war with Iraq to lure Al Quada into the country so we could kill them...that is beyond stupid even for the Bush Administration.

PS...there was never a 'large number' of Al Quada attacks to begin with, there was a strategically small number of high impact, well planned out attacks. Now, it appears that capability has been severely disrupted, and that credit goes to the Bush Administration, but it has nothing to do with the Iraq War in my opinion and could have been done with much less cost to the nation.

Suicide bombings haven't stopped in Iraq or elsewhere in the ME...you just don't hear about them because the media thinks they make Barry look bad.

[Tim]

He tried to make what happened seem trivial.

And then off to snorkeling‎?

The thousands of travels who this has effected won't forget this.