Stop Understating the Threat
Does anyone remember Kevin Bacon in Animal House? Bacon played the clueless ROTC cadet and Omega House pledge who unsuccessfully tried to quell the bedlam brought on by Blutarski et al. of Delta House. Bacon kept yammering that all was well. But in the end he was flattened by the fleeing crowd.
Yesterday, the President tried to reassure the nation. Instead of pleading like Kevin Bacon, Obama robotically told us that the government was doing all it could be doing to keep us safe. As a raft of commentators have already pointed out, Obama was passionless in tone, much as he sounds passionless about the unemployed. Sure, Obama said that we would not rest until he found those who were accountable. But the tone of commitment and intent were lacking. As was his tie. Not a performance that reassures or comforts.
Obama sounds like a very, very reluctant warrior. Reagan could convey indignation. Bush 41’s quiet manners masked steeliness. But Obama leaves you with a sense of I don't know. In the past, he went at the Somali pirates. But this time the threat was to American soil. And somehow Obama seemed AWOL. Obama seemed to be reacting to a move on a chess board -- not a potential catastrophe.
The administration still defends its decision not to revoke the terrorist’s visa. Reverence for due process is overtaking the primacy of American lives.
On the other hand, Obama's performance was a marked improvement over DHS Chief Napolitano who confused resourceful civilians with effective Homeland security.
Make no mistake. She is this administrations Brownie. And unlike Brownie, I bet she stays on. A Red State woman. That's about the only kind of passenger profiling this administration will embrace.
Getting back to Animal House. Obama is no hapless pledge. He is the President. But a few more performances like this, and like the guys in Delta House he may get the boot.