What To Make Of The Obama Was Briefed Story

There are a few different approaches people on the Right seem to be taking to this, Obama was briefed, story.

Some, but not many, are going down the Obama Knew! path. James Joyner and most others are treating it for what it is. The argument that the Left took the more extreme approach in criticizing Bush for a pre-9/11 briefing doesn't really track. It was only the wacko fringe that did it. And I don't think it hurt Bush all that much. Iraq did.

The terrorism issue works for the Right, national security is still their strong suit, as opposed to the Democrats. As the Politico points out, the subject is the Democrat's worst nightmare. There's no need for the Right or the GOP to overplay it, which doesn't mean not capitalizing on it as a strength in political terms. What the briefing shows is how difficult it is to combat terrorism. And how even the supposedly best efforts we can put forward have problems. That all accrues to the benefit of the Right, who takes the problem far more seriously. Let it work for us. But don't overplay a winning hand.

This naturally brings to mind the report President Bush got a few days before the 9/11 attacks warning that al Qaeda was hoping to strike the U.S. As with that briefing, the fact that the president failed to stop the attack from occurring looks bad.   After all, he had warning!  But it’s not at all clear what, precisely, either man should or could have done differently.  These briefings, while seemingly detailed in hindsight, are incredibly vague.

Beyond that, even if Obama had been told that they’re received information that an al Qaeda operative was flying into the country from overseas during the holidays with a bomb in his under drawers — which, again, is massively more information than we had available — it’s not obvious what he could have done about it.   We’re already complaining about the new security procedures that got put into place post-attempt — rightly so, since they wouldn’t have helped.  It would have been difficult to justify them beforehand.

There’s room to criticize the administration’s response to the crisis, most notably DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano’s idiotic insistence that “the system worked.”  But the idea that the president was somehow supposed to stop the underwear bomber based on vague intelligence of an increased terrorism risk over the holidays is unreasonable.

Comments

[Dennis D]

The difference between Bush and Obama is one of ideology. Given the opportunity I have no doubt Bush would support profiling of Muslim Males. Obama on the other hand does not see these terrorists as a major problem.

[gsr]

Exactly right Dennis. It's true, I honestly don't agree with 95% of what Obama says on any topic, it's simply his philosophy/ideology and mine are different. Also, on a personal note, I find him almost appalling - his contempt for our country, his behavior, his long past with radicals, etc.

But more of all, it's simply ideology. Barry is a soft, academic/utopian type, who constantly, 24/7/365 (did I say constantly?) talks about race and gender "issues" and defines everything, EVERYTHING in terms of race, gender and poverty. People like Barry have never created a job in their life, never created a company, never created ANYTHING but talk, talk and talk about how they plan to redistribute OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY.

[PE]

F***ups are what you get when you have a natural born f**** up doing his natural born thing. Barry is reluctant to do anything right because "that is not who we are."

[Have to laugh]

Obama was briefed about underwear boxers, uh, I mean bombers who might pantyraid our sorority, uh, I mean penetrate our security. Did I just say penetrate?

Too many puns, too little time.

[southdakotaboy]

Dan you are right in the fact that we can't expect a vague warning to produce results, but we should use this as a chance to steadily hammer home the point that Democrats will not agressively work to protect Americans. We don't need to blame him directly, but Republicans should take every reasonable chance to mention the fact that he "was" briefed and still did nothing. It should be tied in with the fact he golfs all the time etc... We on the right need to hound him on these issues as much as possible.

On a personal note we need to hound Obama just like the left did, even if it is "unreasonable". The left for to long has gotten away with playing by a different set of rules. They have always gotten away with treating us on the right badly and not having to pay a penalty for it. Now they need us to get behind them. I say lets get behind them alright for the simple reason it is easier to stab them in the back that way. Of course we must be ready to go it alone when we get back in power. We must learn the lesson that you can never trust anyone on the left ever. We must harden our hearts to the fact that we must treat those on the left in this country as the enemy.

I know some on here will not like that last statement, but it has come to the point where large numbers of Americans are going to start dieing because of these people and we need to keep our nations survival in the front of our minds.

[joyMc]

I just heard Barry on TV saying his counter terrorism efforts have saved countless lives. I figure the exact number of those lives saved (by Barry and crew) is approximately equal to the number of jobs his job creation efforts have produced.

[DaveinPhoenix]

Story from Fox:

LONDON — The British government said Sunday that Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama had agreed to fund a counterterrorism police unit in Yemen to tackle the rising terrorist threat from the country.

-- A effing police unit ? Hahahahahahahahha ! I'll bet the terrorists are laughing louder than I am right now. That is the difference between the right and left: the right knows that this is a war. The left believes that this is a civil/police matter. Man these idiots are naive......dangerously naive.

[mariner]

The Buck Stops With Barack.

That f***up is the head of the Executive Branch. It was HIS TSA, State Department, CIA (and G-d knows who else) who knew about this dipshit and let him on the plane.

It was Obama's administration who failed to aggressively investigate Hasan, but had no problem sending their gun-wielding thugs to hassle a blogger for writing about the TSA.

[David R. Graham]

The eel in the White House, as he said in his book, will side with the Mohammedans. Period.

Napolitano spoke the truth, the system worked flawlessly.

The discrepancy is that the system to which she referred is not the system to which most Americans assume she referred.

That's their bad, not hers. Janet told the truth. If she loses her job, it will be because she did, not because she "mis-spoke."

Most Americans are gullible and insensate, pig-eaters/moronic, not only have they no clue regarding what is happening, they have no desire to have a clue, and more to the point, they have no intellectual capacity, tools or will to allow them to have a clue. Most Americans are utterly safe for any tyrant who wants to impose her/him-self on them.

"The system" Janet mentioned did not profile an Afro-Mohammedan Imperialist. It was meant not to and it did that task admirably. The "efficient" perp's device and his fellow passengers obstructed the event he and his handlers planned and "the system" of which Napolitano spoke was designed to enable.

This Detroit affair was no failure of US OPSEC as that is currently defined, it was a stunning success: the perp was not interrogated and was iced, he was lawyered-up and will endure at most minimal punishment, if any. This is a complete success of "the system," just as Napolitano meant it: lawyers get rich.

Janet is from a heavily LCN state. Does it take extraordinary intellect to grasp who is running this former "country?"

[rah]

Supposedly NSA had intercepted calls. There were warnings about Yemeni underwear bombs. The warnings focused on Christmas. The bomber had a one way ticket paid with cash. Had been to Yemen and we had his name as a dangerous person reported by his father. There were more than enough clues to arrest the guy on suspicion when he tried to board and then once the underwear found, then prosecute.

This was failure to try to stop a bomber, they had all the information. It was refusal to look at the dots and not connect them. Obama administration has earned the criticism. It was luck the PETN did not ignite and the quick action of the filmmaker that saved the day. Not our security system.

[USMC]

When Obama allowed cruise missiles to be launched at Yemeni targets the reasoning I heard was that AQ in Yemen was plotting an attack. Was the Muslims with the burning skivvies over Detroit that plot?

If so then Obama did know and his Clintonesque show of force didn't work.

"but it has come to the point where large numbers of Americans are going to start dieing because of these people" southdakotaboy nails it. A monstrous attack(s) are coming our way it is then we will know who Obama really is. Unfiltered, no spin the whole world will see where his true allegiance lies.

If Obama is who I suspect he is the world and most of all America will be horrified and we will have a major crisis beyond anything we've ever experienced.

One last thought would a Muslim who infiltrated our political system act any differently than Obama?

[southdakotaboy]

Well USMC if that attack comes what steps are we on the right ready to take to make sure that those responsible (both the attackers and the politicians who enabled them) are held accountable? We must not forget that we will have to be ready to take a good hard look at many leftwing Judges to. They are just as responsible for the mess we are in.