A No-Boehner-The minority leader's absurd charge about Obama's counterterrorism strategy.

[babylonsister]

http://www.slate.com/id/2253100/

A No-Boehner
The minority leader's absurd charge about Obama's counterterrorism strategy.
By John Dickerson
Posted Thursday, May 6, 2010, at 7:15 PM ET


Today House Minority Leader John Boehner issued a grave charge against the president in the wake of the Times Square bomb plot. He suggested it was merely luck that there had not been a major terrorist attack during the Obama administration. Obama lacks a "comprehensive strategy for war" against terrorists, he charged, and had no strategy for preventing future attacks.

You can make the case that President Obama's strategy for fighting terrorists is dumb, too cautious, or ineffective. But no one who wants to be taken seriously can claim Obama lacks a strategy. Boehner is either being sloppy with his language, slippery with the facts—or both—to score political points.

snip//

If Boehner's critique had been made during the Bush administration, it would not just have invited criticism on its specific points; it would have been held up as evidence that Boehner fundamentally misunderstands the nature of the war against the extremists.

In his critique, Boehner is not acting alone. He is parroting the same arguments put forward by Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin. As a political matter, this seems sensible: Defining your opponent's approach to fighting terrorists by its least popular elements is a wise strategy. Moving Guantanamo prisoners to the United States is not popular. Nor is trying KSM in New York—a fact that Scott Brown exploited in his winning campaign for Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts Senate seat. In fact, many Republicans believe that the lesson of the Brown victory is that national security, not health care, is a potent political issue against the Democrats.

Whether Obama's strategy against terrorists is a smart one is certainly a suitable subject for debate and conversation. But Boehner's charge in its present form doesn't deserve a hearing at the adults table. And Obama didn't give it one. At the time Boehner was making his remarks, Obama was in the Situation Room, attending one of his regular meetings with the secretary of defense, Gen. David Petraeus, and other national security advisers. They were discussing the strategy the minority leader says the president doesn't have.

[Bitwit1234]

1. Isn't it odd

Republicans were in charge when the Twin Towers were attacked. But they consider themselves to be the only authority on terrorism. They know all about everything there is to know about everything. Gee why didn't they apply some of that miracle knowledge during the eight years that bush stole as president.