The 9/11 Standard

Who has done a better job of keeping the country safer - George Bush or Barack Obama? Well, as soon as it we make it past the morning of 9/11, then Obama will have officially kept us safer longer than George Bush did when he entered office. It's empirical. You can't argue with it.

One of the contributors to our show, Malcolm Fleschner, made this point to me. I found it rhetorically enjoyable. Of course, in reality the circumstances are different and you can't necessarily compare one time period to another. And Bush supporters could even make an argument that we have not been hit on Obama's watch because of what a great job Bush did to keep us safe earlier.

But that leads us to the second point about 9/11. Republicans would love to take credit for the safety we are enjoying under Obama, but do you think that they would say the same thing if the shoe was on the other foot? If we were attacked right now, do you think a single one of them would say it's because Bush didn't do enough to keep us safe on his watch? Not one, right? Do you think a single one of them would say that it wasn't Obama's fault because it's too early in his administration? Not one, right?

In fact, so far they have done nothing but the exact opposite. They have blamed every single thing on Obama. The economy, the deficit, unemployment and even the Afghanistan War. It's all Obama's fault in less than nine months.

Do you remember what they said when we got hit by the worst terrorist strike in US history on this same date in Bush's first term? Bush could not be blamed at all! It was far too early in his administration! It was considered nearly unpatriotic to suggest such a thing. No one could blame him for anything that happened before 9/11 in his first term.

Now, do you think they've used that same standard for Obama? No one in their right mind could think that. Perhaps the media should keep that in mind as they evaluate what Obama has done so far and what Bush failed to do at this point in his administration. We could call that the 9/11 standard.

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UPDATE: We put this up on AOL as a poll. "Who has kept us safer through the first eight months of their term?" You're not going to believe the results. Click here to vote and see the poll results so far.

Follow Cenk Uygur on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TheYoungTurks

Comments

[IllinoisTexan43]

Thank you, President Obama, for keeping our nation safe.

[been2there]

Republicans have no honor, so I no longer expect honor from them. The hypocricy is staggering, but, sadly, commonplace.

[LaHenche]

Still no uproar over Bush family ties to The Bin Ladens?

However, Obama has a few uppity negroes in his administration and there's hell to pay?

What's wrong with this picture?

[IllinoisTexan43]

It goes further back than that. Preston Bush's accumulation of wealth on the backs of war victims should have cast a pall over that family long ago. But hey, when you're wealthy, white and male- it's all good.

[chlai88]

Well, we can extrapolate that further & imagine if the current crop of Repubs and conservatives we see today were to be in unchecked power for the last few centuries. There will be no age of enlightenment. Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein will be burnt at the stake for heresy. There will be witch hunts for those who seek abortion and burnt at the cross. Using lies and spreading fears will be their favorite tactics to keep us all in line. We will be ruled by a cabal of high priests and religious extremists who will go on a crusade to snuff out other world religions. Racial discrimination will not only be tolerated but encouraged. The world will still be flat and not round as proclaimed by the leaders regardless of evidence. Sounds far fetched ? I think not given the extent of their recent behavior.

[BLBass]

That sounds a bit extreme. Say what you will about his overt atheistic themes, but Phillip Pullman's imagining of an alternate history dominated by conservative religious forces is a pretty realistic one. Plus His Dark Materials makes for pretty good reading, even for an adult.

[feliznavidad]

You forgot to mention that in the Republicrab Demagogue Zone, there will be a huge underclass of extremely poor people (ala Charles Dickens) who will do anything for food and shelter. Anything. These droogs will be overseen by a small class of their "betters" who have more freedoms, more material wealth, and more of the good life because they are inherently worth more than the masses-- deemed so by their own brand of "gawd" -- a being, by the way, that has nothing to do with our Creator.

[EbonBear]

Cenk, you're forgetting the very, very simple rule: Everything rank, foul and wrong is the fault of a Democrat and everything a Democrat does is, by definition, rank, foul and wrong; everything good and pure and right is the glory of a Republican and everything a Republican does is, by definition, good, pure and right. Just remember that and you can easily predict Republican talking points before they even make them.

Seriously, Republicanism isn't a political ideaology anymore, it's a religion. They have their own prophets, their own high priests, their own devil, they already worship Reagan (naturally, their accusations of worshipping Obama were just more projection) and, like most highly dogmatic religions, everything outside the cult is evil, everything within is good and disagreement is not tolerated.

[LeftRight]

Fanned!

[RealityBaseCamp]

Couldn't have said it better.

[TheGreenMiles]

It's judging national security only by results, not by process. Let's say you stand in a field in the middle of a lightning storm but don't get struck by lightning. Terrible process? Of course. But Republicans would only judge the results - we're safe!

[bbbear]

Great points Cenk. As you so logically pointed out,, it may not mean much, but i particularly like Malcolm Fleschner's empirical point. Thanks for giving credit and passing it on!

[ihavenobias]

You make a great point Cenk.

[declanomaha]

I have to agree with Cenk that the Republicans have hit the switch and everyone is now allowed to criticize President Obama for anything. Honestly, I think that a lot of people saw this coming because of how much Bush was criticized and how much the right wing defended everything he did. Now that a Democrat is in power, they feel it is right for them to blame him for everything that is wrong with the country.

[TheDuckofLaw]

The Iraq war was a war of choice that resulted in thousands of American deaths and countless more thousands of innocent, dead Iraqis. I have no qualms with considering Bush and Co. at worst murderers and at best grossly incompetent and heartless. I have a pocket full of loose change... it's time for laundry.

[S1m0n]

Bush killed 5,000+ americans. He didn't protect americans from being attacked; he sent a whole bunch of Americans over to the middle east, where they'd be easier and more convenient to kill.

[Darthwave]

Very good point Cenk. If we never get attacked again in the next 4 to 8 years it will be because of Bush. If we do get attacked it will be because of the President Obama. When dealing with a opposition that is so partisan and plays with a rigged deck their is no reason to try to attempt bipartisanship. I say do like the late Bernie Mack says F'em and push full steam ahead with your agenda.

[SorenB]

Cenk, I hope this isn't a mea culpa piece for your recent articles.

Obama can't take the full credit for the safety of the country.

The credit belongs to the intelligence communities that have worked hard to keep the country safe.

Pre 9/11 the intelligence agencies were in disarray now a lot of improvement has been done after 9/11.

However, Obama is endangering our country with the huge deficits he is undertaking and devaluing the dollar. By the rapid printing out of money to protect the banking industry and the countless bailouts to underserving institutions Obama and Bush have put this country at great risk.

There is a strong global drive to replace the dollar as fiat currency. The only reason we were not impacted as much as other countries is because the US Dollar was the default currency.

Terrorists could only dream to do the damage that Obama is doing to our country by allowing Bernanke to devalue the dollar.

[pm247]

"The credit belongs to the intelligence communities that have worked hard to keep the country safe"

This intelligence community has done more harm to America than Osama ever dreamed of. In fact, Osama has been a CIA "asset" for decades; the leader of Al Qaeda takes his orders from our government. Is it any wonder there were so many "missed" opportunities to capture him, or that the focus was quickly shifted to Saddam?

The known history of this "heroic" intelligence community is beyond revolting. Shielding and recruiting Nazi war criminals; political murders all over the world and at home (including JFK according to E. Howard Hunt and other operatives); running drugs into the country in massive quantities; infiltrating major media outlets to control US public opinion (Operation Mockingbird); and of course torture which seems almost quaint by comparison.

These people, at the higher levels, care nothing about America. They are the enforcement arm of the big money establishment -- the criminal corporatocracy -- and nothing else.

[SorenB]

And you know this, because of what you hear on the Internet?

When was the last day you worked in the intelligence community?

[EbonBear]

Thank you, that makes Cenk's point in it's entirety.

[davidly]

You make a point far too lucid for the partisan to understand. Let's not forget that it was (man, I hate to invoke his name) Dick, who explicitly suggested that Clinton was to blame. And he did so in the wake of what was then still known as "recent events".

But what I hate most about the standard of which you speak, is the residual effect it has on kneecapping anyone from criticising the politics of someone who is ostensibly "on their side", ie. don't criticize or we'll get the worst of two evils again. The standard has ratcheted up that effect to the max. So when I use the word "partisan", I refer to those who would insist you belong in their camp and not just those who sling mud to the other side of the aisle. Can I get a "tri-partisan"?

[AnotherTry]

To honor the memory of my friend Ron Gamboa, who died on Flight 175 eight years ago today I ask: Why did our government ignore the many warnings from allied intelligence agencies and domestic agents before 9/11? And why did the government refuse to intervene on that day?

[davidly]

And yet there are those who would insinuate that you are quite simply dishonoring all that is holy about this, our newest, most precious holiday. Just because you'd like the lies to stop.

[TheDuckofLaw]

Did Bush "honor" anyone when he urged Americans to go shopping? Nope - he unleashed thousands of rescue workers into what was basically a chemical warzone with NO PROTECTION at all. .... The only way to honor anyone involved is to establish emergency response parameters that ensure the safety of rescue workers as much as possible, create a monitoring infrastructure for airplanes, and develop response plans in case people hijack one..... oh, wait, we had all of that. Way to go Bush, ""sarcastic golfclap""

woops! I just reread your comments above. I had already typed it though. I agree with you anyway.