As President Obama defends his national security strategy, he faces a daunting challenge. He must convince the country that it is in safe hands despite warnings to the contrary from the right, and at the same time persuade the skeptical left that it is enough to amend his predecessor’s approach rather than abandon it.
Arguably on the defensive over policy for the first time since taking office, Mr. Obama is gambling that his oratorical powers can reassure the public that bringing terrorism suspects to prisons on American soil will not put the public in danger.
At the same time, he must explain and win support for a nuanced set of positions that fall somewhere between George W. Bush and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Obama is prisoner to his own foolish rhetoric on Gitmo, try as he might to point the finger at Bush. He appeased the nutroots by promising to close the facility, but without a viable plan to do so. It’s actually fun watching him squirm now.
Actually, while we may enjoy seeing Obama hoist on his own petard, we should NOT enjoy it. Having a compromised CinC only diminishes our ability to respond to threats around the world.
I hope (and pray) that Obama continues to see how the rhetoric of running for office is different from the responsibility of governing and he continues to choose responsibility over rhetoric when it comes to national security and that he starts choosing responsibility over rhetoric when it comes to domestic policy.
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
Putting terrorists into State and Federal prisons in the US will give the terrorists ample recruiting ground…has anyone thought of that?
Dick Cheney, not someone I ever admired in the past, completely eviscerated Obama with a brilliant, low key, facts-and-logic speech yesterday. By comparison, Obama’s overly long address was an exercise in emotional gesture, special pleading, and extended campaigning. There could be political trouble ahead for the administration on this showing.