Sen. Jack Reed: Obama More Focused On Terrorism Than Bush

In what was a noteworthy remark precisely because it is made so infrequently, a top Senate Democrats insisted on Sunday that President Barack Obama has been more focused on issues of terrorism than "any other president." Even (yes) George W. Bush.

Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) accused Republicans of applying a double standard to the president for his handling of the attempted Christmas Day airline bombing. While Obama moved swiftly to assess the security implications of the botched attack, and the FBI "immediately questioned the suspect," Reed said, his predecessor was lethargic in handling a botched airline attack of his own.

"When [the shoe bomber] Richard Reid was discovered trying to detonate a bomb on a transatlantic flight, it took President Bush six days to comment, and the comments were more laudatory to the crew," Reed said. "And by the way, we should in fact commend the flight crew and the passengers who really saved a potential disaster. But the situation is such that the president has focused on terrorism and counterterrorism, more than any other president. He took office under the spectra of that. He is taking steps --"

At this point, host Chris Wallace interjected. "Are you really saying he is focused more on terrorism than George W. Bush?"

"I think he came into office with the notion that the whole, the major existential threat to the United States were terrorism attacks in the country," replied Reed. "There was a profound emphasis on Al Qaida and terrorism up until I think the decision to go into Iraq and then the operations in Iraq consumed all of the energy. The situation in Yemen has deteriorated over the last several years, because of a concentration on Iraq, a concentration on efforts that are tangential at best to Al Qaida. So, this president, I think, understands that the existential threats to the country are bands of Al Qaida terrorists."

As a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Reed does have a bit more credibility to make such assertions than other members of his party. But what's striking is how few Democrats have joined him in going on the offensive when it comes to issues of national security. The White House has, by and large, been left on an island to defend itself. The complication may be that there are members in the party who firmly believe that an escalation of troops in Afghanistan could be the type of distraction from Al Qaida that Reed ascribed to Iraq.

Comments

[CaliTLC]

02:11 AM on 01/12/2010

But for a double, the Republicans would have no standards.

[senatortruth]

12:43 PM on 01/11/2010

YOUBEESARACISTAZZZLIKKKKER.

Join Buhs and Cheeney with their master Sattan when your time comes

TREEZINUS little PUNNNNKKKKK..

[senatortruth]

12:39 PM on 01/11/2010

Buhs and Cheeney committed TREEZIN against the USA.

They are PUNNNNKKKSS.

Outed CiiA spiy, flew Bin Ludens out on 9/12, refused to go UNDER OATH to 9/11 Commission.

TREEZINUS punnnkkkksss.

[RightOn5]

11:05 AM on 01/11/2010

Once again Jack embarrasses himself. I watched his face after he said it, and his susequant attempt to qualify, manipulate, and gloss over the hoplessly false talking point he was sent out to the Sunday shows with. He knew what we all know and what we were thinking . It was cringe worthy. I actually felt sorry for him.

[Solja]

12:42 AM on 01/11/2010

Liberals, here is the proven tactic to ward off all ly ing Republican trolls. Just repeat after me (and stick this to them every time they rear their ugly heads:

"What has the Republican Party done for the country over the past two decades? Name one thing."

They will pretend not to see your post or they will try this l ie... "Bush kept us safe." But you see, they want you to forget all about those 3,000+ people who died on Sept. 11th, but don't you let them forget! Oh, and since we're there, remind them about the 1,800+ people that died in Hurricane Katrina, not counting the missing that were never found.

[shivasquest]

09:10 PM on 01/10/2010

Ah no kidding.Republicans let afganistan fester and spread........and did nothing about Yemen.

[billos]

10:21 PM on 01/10/2010

This was no accident. To have a war on terror it helps to incite more terrorism. Hell thats just good business.

[Mum]

08:47 PM on 01/10/2010

Jack Reed is one of our very best senators, and his judgment on any national security measures is to be respected. As a matter of fact, he is one of the six senators that voted against Inouye's amendment (1133) to the House Supplementary Appropriations Act: "To prohibit funding to transfer, release, or incarcerate detainees detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to or within the United States." (The others who voted with Reed were Durbin, Harkin, Leahy, Levin, and Whitehouse.) It's embarrassing that the 90 senators who voted to prohibit funding seemingly had no confidence in our federal penal system, and didn't even have the courage of the people in Thomson, Illinois. (Hard to imagine not having confidence in our penal system. We may not have universal health care, but we sure know how to imprison people. We have the highest incarceration rate in the world.)

[billos]

10:20 PM on 01/10/2010

Fastest growing industry for years during the previous administration was the privately owned prison industry. These facilities should be dismantled because it is disgusting to have tax money profiting companies for imprisonment. Thankfully social security and medicare havent been privatized as well. One merely has to look at a societies prison system for a reflection of it's society. A lot of poor people that would otherwise be free if they could just be one of that top1% class of elite. Oh how fair and balanced.

[Solja]

12:29 AM on 01/11/2010

I was seriously thinking this very same thing today while watching some of MSNBC's favorite weekend shows, Lockup. There was this young black guy in San Quentin Prison who sang this beautiful song about him being locked up. He had a voice of gold and in another life situation, he'd be a star selling millions of records. I thought about how sad that is that this guy's life turned out this way and how our society doesn't seem to want to do anything about this. There is over 700 prisoners on death row in California, an absolute atrocity for a civilized society. You know that someone is getting paid for this. The prison they showed in Chicago is just as atrocious and is filled to the gills with young men.

[Mum]

03:13 AM on 01/11/2010

Yeah, isn't it great. For-profit health care and for-profit prisons. And of course the mercenaries that are "assisting" our military. Next thing you know we're going to have for-profit police and fire services. A libertarian and corporatist paradise and a human nightmare.

[Solja]

12:31 AM on 01/11/2010

You'll never hear them say they can't lock up a bunch of black men though. The US has that down to an absolute science.

[Puller58]

05:51 PM on 01/10/2010

Me dad can beat up your dad. Same difference. Pfft.

[senatortruth]

05:21 PM on 01/10/2010

The TREEZINUS little PUNNNNKKKKK Buhs?

They wouldn't let him do PRESS CONFERENCES for OVER A YEAR

because they KNEW he would tell the TRUTH about their TREEZIN.

And Ronnie was the ULTIMATE in "teleprompter".

LOL!

[IBEESBARRIEO]

05:25 PM on 01/10/2010

Say bra, you cants spell, but dats alright I be done fanned you. I likes you, dawg.

[fireW]

06:36 PM on 01/10/2010

He can spell; its a strategy to prevent someone scrubbing the post. Apparently, we have to be careful not to insult those who deliberately insult every thinking person who has ever lived.

[senatortruth]

05:17 PM on 01/10/2010

IBEESBARRIEO?

How'd you come up with such a NAME?

YOUBEESARACISTAZZZHHHOLLE, huh?

[IBEESBARRIEO]

05:20 PM on 01/10/2010

Takes one to know one, huh.

[senatortruth]

06:20 PM on 01/10/2010

And YOU know them ALL.

LOL!

[fireW]

06:38 PM on 01/10/2010

No, it takes at least half a brain to know anything. You're safe . .

[rkarr]

05:14 PM on 01/10/2010

Doperman should do a count down to closing of Gitmo. Doubt it. The only people buying into this Presidents agenda are the libby lefties. Which is a very small portion of the american population. Thankfully.

[Mum]

06:04 PM on 01/10/2010

Perhaps you didn't know that last May the Senate voted 90-6 to block the funds needed to facilitate the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. And perhaps you also didn't know that the wise leaders of Illinois and the savvy people of Thomson, Illinois decided to make some jobs by utilizing the maximum-security wing of its Thomson Correctional Center to house Guantanamo Bay detainees. And perhaps you didn't know that last month President Obama signed a Presidential Memo which upholds his Executive Order of January 22, 2009 and orders the transfer of the detainees to the Thomson.

You must be spending entirely too much time under your bridge waiting for those three billy goats gruff.

[Vetinari]

09:42 PM on 01/10/2010

17% is a small portion of the American people.

Incidentally this is also the percentage of Americans who thinks looking at Russia equals foreign relations experience.

[ptgkc]

05:11 PM on 01/10/2010

Obama is more focused than Bush on everything.

Bush in bed before 9 every night. Spent entire August every year in Crawford of a "working" vacation. Delegated foreign policy to Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice. Bush never questioned his generals, but let them make war policy. Ignored Katrina. Ignored NSA memo about possible attacks before 9/11.

Obama has been criticized for trying to do too much. Passed equal pay law, stimulus, stress tested banks, appointed successful Supreme Court Justice, cap and trade, reviewed and changed policy in Afghanistan, credit card reform, and close to passing a health care bill. Banking and Wall Street reform is next. Obama hasn't had one uninterrupted vacation. His short trip to Martha's Vineyard was cut short by Ted Kennedy's death and his Christmas week vacation to Hawaii has been filled with national security issues.

if the results aren't what progressives always want, at least as an American, I'm glad to have an engaged President.

[Beatriz09]

05:26 PM on 01/10/2010

Co-signed.

[Mum]

06:05 PM on 01/10/2010

Amen.

[senatortruth]

05:00 PM on 01/10/2010

GeorgeandRichardBEES TREEZINUS!!

[TJCole]

04:59 PM on 01/10/2010

Bush and Cheney used the "War on Terror", for his adventure in Iraq, all for the sake of the greedy Oil Companies...

First he let's 9/11 happen then he lets bin-Laden and Zawahiri escape at Tora Bora, refusing to send just 6-800 Troops to cut off their escape...but has over 100,000 to send to Iraq...

Obama has been takin it too al-Qaeda and the Taliban in a much more aggressive manner than Bush did after the initial invasion after 9/11..!

Bush exposed us all to greater danger and threat by allowing al-Qaeda to regroup in Pakistan and Waziristan and focus in their true main objective Pakistan where the WMD's really are ready to launch...!

[senatortruth]

04:55 PM on 01/10/2010

WHO exposed a CiiA spiy?

WHO let the Bin Ludens fly out on 9/12, when flight was GROUNDED?

Yup. Buhs and Cheeney.

TREEZINUS.

[Nonpartay]

08:19 PM on 01/10/2010

Who never captured Osama Bin Ladin in 8 years' time? Who blames the other party for everything, even 9/11? Who couldn't care less about the poor or the middle class, only the rich? Who recruits lobbyists for free from among the masses and convinces them to do their dirty work on places like this blog when lobbyists should get paid thousands, sometimes millions, for what they do? Well, one thing they do know how to do is instill fear and loathing into their wretched followers and make them afraid of everyone and everything that even hints of being Democratic. Nice! And this group is what we want running the country? I don't THINK so!