It's probably too soon to say whether Republicans' truly ridiculous attacks against President Obama on counter-terrorism are going to have an effect. The daily tracking polls haven't shown much of a shift as of yet, and much of the public is enjoying the holiday season and may not be fully engaged in the GOP talking points of the day.
Ideally, Americans would see through the baseless condemnations of the White House, and recognize them for what they are: petty, stupid, and easily debunked. But if public attitudes start to shift, and wrong-but-loud criticism undermines confidence in the administration's national security policies, there is an alternative strategy available.
Up until now, the president has chosen a mature, sensible approach to counter-terrorism. After learning of the failed Abdulmutallab plot, the White House reacted quickly with new security measures behind the scenes, with the president overseeing a carefully-crafted response. But publicly, the White House decided not to elevate the actions of a two-bit thug. President Obama signaled to the country that there was no reason to panic, and no need to give a new round of sought-after attention to a bunch of lunatics.
Republicans didn't care for that approach, and preferred a collective display of pants-wetting. GOP voices and the media decided the strategy to deny terrorists a symbolic public relations victory wasn't good enough -- this was a time for partisan grandstanding, not mature leadership.
Again, maybe Americans will find the president's approach compelling. They should; it's how leaders are supposed to operate. But at this point, it seems pretty obvious that the president acting like an adult is going over the political world's head.
There's apparently an expectation that the president can -- and probably should -- exploit incidents for as much political gain as possible. The Obama administration's track record on counter-terrorism is extremely impressive, but because officials don't dance in the end-zone after every successful operation, most Americans haven't heard about the success stories, and most political journalists still internalize the absurd notion that national security is a Republican "strength."
If the White House wanted to try a new approach, grandstanding opportunities are not uncommon. For example, when U.S. forces, acting on the president's orders, successfully took out Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, the ringleader of a Qaeda cell in Kenya and one of the most wanted Islamic militants in Africa, the president could have appeared before the cameras to explain, "Hey, look at me! I took out one of the world's most dangerous terrorists!"
When U.S. forces, acting on the president's orders, killed Baitullah Mehsud, the terrorist leader of the Taliban movement Pakistan, Obama could have assembled reporters to declare, "Booyah! Bush and Cheney only wish they had a record like mine!"
When the Obama administration took suspected terrorists Najibullah Zazi, Talib Islam, and Hosam Maher Husein Smadi into custody before they could launch their planned attacks, each of the success stories could have been accompanied by its own press conference, at which the president could proclaim, "Republicans' talk is cheap; I'm the one keeping Americans safe."
Of course, the administration preferred a more low-key approach in each instance. Obama has scored the kind of counter-terrorism victories that, if they'd come a couple of years ago, would have led the White House to release photos of Dick Cheney and Bill Kristol chest-bumping each other on the South Lawn, but this White House prefers to simply get the job done, not make a show of it.
The result, however, is that the media and the public don't necessarily know the counter-terrorism victories have even happened.
The president, by all appearances, finds shameless politicization of counter-terrorism offensive. And it is. But Republicans are running an aggressive misinformation scheme, and if it's effective, the White House may need to reconsider whether the public rewards or punishes leaders who act like grown-ups.
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I do wish Obama and his administration would be more front and center in touting all that they are accomplishing, ergo this Steve Benen post. Why the reticence?
I appreciate your reference to the successes which were not boasted about in the current administration to "pump them up," therefore being more grown-up than the previous administration.
One you forgot to mention (along with Rethuglican response) was the Somali pirates. If I remember crrectly, Limbaugh said during the standoff that Obama was spineless and could not handle these thugs because he was weak on terror. Then, when the Navy Seals took one out, Limbaugh spewed vitriol against Obama for THAT!
Sorry Rethugs, you CAN'T have it both ways...
So his tired, sloppy response from Hawaii and the apalling response/about face from the HSA Director are all part of a lofty, crafty plan to lull the terrorists into complacency? HOT!
They failed.......They wanted us running scared looking over our shoulders.
Our President stood up as a man and said 'I will handle this....'
This past year has been a blessing.
'Chainey' should realize he is running out of breath....
His eight years was way too long...it is over.
The left and the right need to drop the political junk and start working for America.
We are all Americans there is no such thing as "real" Americans and those other guys. We are one nation and when we start acting like that once again we will return to the "good old days" when things were simpler.
Those in the fringe do not want to return to good times they want things their way or no way. Despite what the GOP claims Obama has extended his hand to them to work together and before they went to meet with him they had a meeting and decided that from this point on no matter what is offered they would vote NO. If your answer is a decided NO before even hearing what is offered what is the point.
The time of childish games has passed it is time for grown ups to come to the table and do what they were elected to do, work to make this nation not just better than some other countries but better than we once were.
As one nation we can do what is needed to provide security for all our citizens, as well as prosperity for all, affordable health care for all, the availability of the finest education in the world for all, and not look to be better than the rest of the world but better than our previous selves.
Time to start blowing the GOP fakers out of the water and reminding the press about the GOP faliures every day.
Why is this not known? The wealthy owned the media and most of the congress. Not much different today. There were congressional hearings, but no real penalties.
Now the ultra wealthy own the same percentage of American they did then. What I see is they used the Republican party to do what they tried to do in the 1930's.
Propaganda is alive and well in America, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and more...
It is, but if the public doesn't know about and Repubs fill the void with lies, then we all know the axiom about a lie which is repeated over and over....
Then guess who gets to run on a "strong against terrorism" platform that fools a lot of people.
We really cannot allow the GOP to peddle 72 hours to peddle misinformation without forceful repudiations or criticisms of their lies
My fear is that the damage has been already done; we have not set a very unfortunate precedence.
Hence the next time we are attacked, there will be even more politically motivated finger-pointing which will lead to the enactment of knee-jerk policies which are designed to cover political "hides" rather than enhance our security or capture of the attackers
72 hours....6 days.....
Americans need to get educated and stop listening to talking heads......
Maybe they should have to pass a test before they can vote...!