Yep. An adult in the White House

[impik]

In the Bush/Cheney era, Incidents like these became opportunities to exploit. Top officials -- Bush, Cheney, Rice, Ashcroft, Ridge -- would fan out and start hitting the talking points. There'd be talk about invading Yemen. Maybe the Bush gang would get a bump in the polls, maybe Dems and administration critics would hold their fire for a few days. If they didn't, the White House could take comfort in knowing that critics would be accused of "aiding and abetting" terrorists by attacking the Commander in Chief in the wake of a crisis.

Obama and his team obviously prefer a far more mature, strategic approach. It's about projecting a sense of calm and control. It's about choosing not to elevate some lunatic thug who set himself on fire.

Indeed, notice the pattern throughout the year. The Obama administration has taken out Saleh al-Somali, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, and Baitullah Mehsud, while taking suspected terrorists Najibullah Zazi, Talib Islam, and Hosam Maher Husein Smadi into custody before they could launch potential attacks.

In each case, there were no high-profile press conferences, no public chest-thumping, no desire to politicize the counter-terrorism successes. Indeed, most of the country probably never heard a word about any of these developments.

It's about competent and effective leadership, and it's what the country was sorely lacking up until 11 months ago.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_12/021643.php

[PBS Poll-435]

1. Gladly K&R

:thumbsup:

[Fruittree]

41. Question

I'm new here - What is K & R ?

[AlbertCat]

50. Kidnap & ransom.

Seriously...

kick & recommend

[boppers]

53. Welcome to DU!

K = Kick: to add another post on to a topic, ensuring that it shows up on the first page (again) of a given topic area for later readers.
R = Recommend: a way of advising other users that a post is worth reading, or may belong on the "greatest posts" lists.

[rfranklin]

2. BushCheney had to distract from their miserable 9/11 failure...

That's why it was important to inflate threats, puff up themselves up as big bad terror warriors, and demonize anyone who said otherwise.

[Cha]

16. And, keep everyone in

:scared: which worked on suckers, btw.

[IndianaGreen]

3. It's all about war crimes, when it really comes down to it

Look at how many innocent civilians we have killed with our drone strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and who knows where else.

Other than the public bragging by Bush and the dead silence by Obama, nothing has really changed when it comes to slaughtering civilians.

[bread_and_roses]

42. Exactly. Who knew the objections to the slaughter of innocents was all about style?

I didn't realize that it was OK to dismember and incinerate infants as long as done with "adult" style and not juvenile crowing and prancing.

[pundaint]

55. What would a real American do in response to his family being blown up by a bomb

aimed at a house in his neighborhood suspected of containing a murderer?

The belief that we can achieve anything positive with our aggression should be criminally negligent. If America was a person it would have to be restrained as criminally insane.

[Goldstein1984]

57. Drone attacks have increased.

And more civilians are killed with that increase.

That has changed.

[kestrel91316]

4. K&R

[thelordofhell]

5. What color is the terror alert?

I don't know, and I don't care. Funny how bush/cheney kept shoving the terror alert level down our throats for 7 years.

[goclark]

23. I forgot all about those Alerts until you mentioned it nt

[silverweb]

6. K&R

:kick:

[sellitman]

7. The Duct Tape Companies & the Plastic sheeting companies aren't happy about it.

They did much better under Bush when Terrorist attacked.

[live love laugh]

8. Thank God there's an adult in the White House. nt

[treestar]

9. Calm and lacking in drama

:kick:

That's our President. Just what we need with all the shouters and drama monarchs running around.

[Kdillard]

10. Amen. Kick and rec.

[Scurrilous]

11. K & R

:thumbsup:

[RFKHumphreyObama]

12. K&R

Spot on. The adults are back in charge!

[samplegirl]

13. No Drama Obama

K&R

[Fearless]

27. Or action... n/t

[Undercurrent]

14. Big K&R

:dem:

[Cha]

15. Yemen? Hell, mcpalin would be bombing Iran

now for their oil and call it payback.

[Top Cat]

17. K&R

[NYC_SKP]

18. Happy to K and R! nt

[Aristus]

19. K&R if for no other reason than because I still believe in the President, even if a lot of

naysayers have jumped ship.

Not to mention, I'm so f*****g GLAD that those stupid color-coded terror alerts are gone! AND the duct tape and plastic sheeting!...

[Nancy Waterman]

20. K&R absolutely

It inspires much more confidence when an adult is in charge
and not a bunch of con men trying to manipulate us into a fearful frenzy.

[moondust]

21. No more terrorizing the public with terror warnings.

It's a relief. Of course Obama is not trying to replace the Evil Empire with the Evildoers to justify hardline right-wing warmongering politics so there's really no need to keep the public in a state of panic.

[Clio the Leo]

22. No, they wouldn't be talking about invading Yemen...

.... they'd be talking about invading Lebanon or somewhere completely unrelated to the incident. ;)

[Jennicut]

24. You are so right.

Well, my Senator Joe (the bad Joe) wants to practically invade Yemen but the Rethugs would want to invade another country.

[Arkana]

25. Yeah. Did anyone notice there was no increase in that bogus "terror alert" system?

Or any frantic press conferences from the President or press secretary about how this was a PRESSING GLOBAL THREAT and we MUST ACT PREEMPTIVELY BY DROPPING NUCLEAR BOMBS ON KYRGYZSTAN?

[Lindsey]

26. K & R!

[me b zola]

28. K&R

[nightrain]

29. but "adults" don't avoid conflict, they work through it. Our President seems

to consider conflict an anathema.

[impik]

34. That's *exactly* what he's doing

He's working through very very difficult conflicts, on a level neither you or i or anyone else of the many smartasses around here will never know, understand or have to face.

[nightrain]

44. I'm not always seeing that. Do you have some inside information?

[scentopine]

30. Well if you really want perspective let's see where we are

Consider

- 10 years of slaughter
- A million or more dead men, women and children (the vast majority who were completely innocent)
- tens of thousands dismembered
- millions more displaced with shattered lives
- trillion or more of US dollars spent (that we know of so far)
- torture
- secret prisons
- wiretapping
- at least three new high profile security agencies HSA, TSA, and the fabulous new cyber security agency (can't recall the official name, CSA? ) to add to the NSA, CIA, ATF, ISA, INS, USCS, FBI, SS, local and state police and a bunch of lesser known ones all charged with keeping us under control.
- billions spent embracing and propping up a narco state dictator in one of the most corrupt hell holes on earth
- billions spent proping up another corrupt dictatorship whose chief scientist sold nuclear weapons designs to North Korea and Iran.
- let's also add in the ongoing problems of enriched uranium, unexploded ordinance, land mines, etc
- a campaign of ruthless violence so indiscriminate that it is universally acknowledged to have exponentially multiplied the threat of terrorism worldwide.

Forgive me if I say that the horn you are tooting sounds flat to me. No offense is intended. You recognize 5 or 6 high profile names as proof and vindication, I see millions of dead, shattered lives, rivers of blood, pestilence, a trillion dollar investment, and like our war on drugs, continued US investment in violent policy that is simply fueling greater demand for the product we are trying to eradicate.

I personally haven't really noticed much difference in the way these attacks have been disclosed in the media, however I will view celebratory assertions regarding war, missions and accomplishments as simple propaganda. Bush also had a low profile on these missile attacks partly because of secrecy and partly because they were usually accompanied by a large number of dead families who couldn't give a damn about America other then as a place that buys a huge amount of opium products.

I understand that this is a mostly irrelevant and minority view point in new democratic party (if it was the majority view point, the democratic leadership would not have doubled down on violence in Afghanistan) so I speak only for myself and appreciate the opportunity to disagree with the democratic party leadership and democratic party majority on this topic.

[go west young man]

32. Your's is the best post on DU in ages.

[ima_sinnic]

40. +++1x10^25 a voice of sanity amid the carnage

yes, it's so much better when bombing, murder, and mayhem are done QUIETLY, with "no drama."

:sarcasm:

[WinkyDink]

51. Not quite seven years. We invaded illegally in 2003. But the rest? Right on.

[n2doc]

54. Yep. Enough Rah rah.

And Somebody please post a link to where the "Threat level" color system has gone away?? Because I flew about a month ago and there were big signs all over the airport stating it was "code Orange" (like it has been for the past 5 years at least). And the new "security rules" are right out of the bushco playbook.

Someday someone is going to go all the way and have a bomb planted surgically inside of themselves. We need to get over this idea that we can make travel perfectly safe.

[Overseas]

31. Now if we'd only stop torture and prosecute the war crimes committed in our name

we'd really be showing honor and maturity.

Yes, certainly, the Obama Administration has been better than the worst presidency in US history.

I just wanted a cleaner break from their policies and a renunciation of the hundreds of war crimes they committed in the name of the American people.

[impik]

33. You don't have even a shred of proof

the torture is continuous. All you have is bunch of rumors. When you'll have any proof, then i'll take your claims seriously.

[Overseas]

59. Just stories and moves to continue covering up Bush Gang war crimes.

http://www.alternet.org/story/140022/?page=entire

As the Obama administration continues to fight the release of some 2,000 photos that graphically document U.S. military abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, an ongoing Spanish investigation is adding harrowing details to the ever-emerging portrait of the torture inside and outside Guantánamo. Among them: "blows to testicles;" "detention underground in total darkness for three weeks with deprivation of food and sleep;" being "inoculated … through injection with 'a disease for dog cysts;'" the smearing of feces on prisoners; and waterboarding. The torture, according to the Spanish investigation, all occurred "under the authority of American military personnel" and was sometimes conducted in the presence of medical professionals.

More significantly, however, the investigation could for the first time place an intense focus on a notorious, but seldom discussed, thug squad deployed by the U.S. military to retaliate with excessive violence to the slightest resistance by prisoners at Guantánamo.

The force is officially known as the the Immediate Reaction Force or Emergency Reaction Force, but inside the walls of Guantánamo, it is known to the prisoners as the Extreme Repression Force. Despite President Barack Obama's publicized pledge to close the prison camp and end torture -- and analysis from human rights lawyers who call these forces' actions illegal -- IRFs remain very much active at Guantánamo.

U.S. Says Rendition to Continue, but With More Oversight http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/us/politics/25rendition.html

Some other examples of covering up Bush Gang crimes, instead of prosecuting them and making a clean break from those immoral practices. http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/09/state_secrets/

I put a lot of hope into the early statement that our president would stop all torture, but have lost a lot of hope for justice through the continued cover ups of Bush Gang activity, and retaining the same privatized military contractors responsible for a lot of the abuse.

[scentopine]

62. Plenty of proof on torture andObama directing Justice Department to look past it

It isn't enough that liberals uncovered thousands of documents and first hand accounts of rape, abuse, murder, that qualifies as torture.

And it isn't enough that Obama will not direct the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute based on this absolute proof of grotesque crimes.

New democrats have raised the bar - we have given immunity to tortures in recent past, and now we have to prove torture is continuing under Obama.

Given that torture is a negative marketing image, what are the odds that it won't be so easy to gather evidence this time around. CIA isn't stupid.

In the meantime, we have this hot air:

"Torture. Its all better now. Trust me. I'm Obama." - Obama

Such strong convictions. I love a president who is tough on crime.

[jeanpalmer]

35. Way to opt for appearance over substance

These left wing war apologists and their hero are showing themselves to be as unprincipled as George Bush. What level will they stoop to to justify this phony war. Their acceptance of it just because it's their guy doing it is sickening. What unprincipled morons. So the only thing we didn't have up until 11 months ago was calmness and effectiveness? Bullshit.

[Overseas]

60. They are NOT "left wing" war apologists.

We left wingers have been marginalized and kicked to the side. Get with the program.

These are the NEW DEMOCRATS-- the DLC Dems, like we saw in the 1980's.

[dkf]

36. So are we going to war or not?

[jeanpalmer]

37. Yes

They're going to declare war on people's groins at the airport. Full groin searches from now on. LOL. A hundred million people will have their groins searched because Obama wanted to suck up to the little dictator of Yemen. "US President Barack Obama personally issued the order for US air strikes in Yemen last Thursday which killed scores of civilians, including women and children....Obama contacted Yemen President Saleh after the blitz to 'congratulate' him on the attacks." http://wsws.org/articles/2009/dec2009/yeme-d21.shtml

[cyclezealot]

38. Old Joe Lieberman on Faux Noise , yesterday

pretty much started the war drums.. Along with House Intel Gooper, Peter Hoekstra... Let's invade Yemen was their chant..

[juno jones]

45. Should be easy.

Yemen is what? About the size of Maine?

And apparently they don't have much oil left either.

But some in Yemen are in rebellion against the saudi/wahabi rulership there, and apparently when our saudi allies (who arguably had more to do with 9-11 than either Afghanistan or Iraq) say jump, we say how high.

[AlbertCat]

52. So are we going to war or not?

We already are at war.

Iraq (though no one talks about it anymore)
Afghanistan
Strikes in Pakistan

We're just "helping" the Saudis in Yemen, y'know.... :eyes:

[lillypaddle]

39. Wow, a positive post about Obama & administration

I had just about given up on coming here. K&R

[Douglas Carpenter]

43. indeed, this is a far more sane and rational response

Some will argue that the differences with the Obama Administration is more about style than substance. But even to the extent that is true, sometimes the style makes all the difference in the world.

[spicegal]

46. There was nothing Bush and Cheney did not politicize, but especially terrorism.

Bush and Cheney taught this country to be afraid, very afraid. Yes, there are bad guys out there wanting to harm us, and some likely will. But we don't need to cower under the kitchen table or run around frantically like a bunch of chickens with our heads cut off. It's a good feeling to know we have mentally healthy adults in charge, who don't treat our national security like some big political game.

[defendandprotect]

47. We and the world deserve more than an "adult" in the WH ... we deserve a humanist . . . !!!

We deserve the end to all wars --

We deserve real single payer health care as other nations have --

We deserve an end to homelessness and impoverishment of our citizens --

We deserve to have the trade agreements overturned --

We deserve to NOT be wiretapped --

We deserve to be free from CHURCH influence or rule --

We deserve to NOT be subsidizing CHURCH with our tax dollars --

We deserve an end to the secrecy which is permitting fascism in America --

We deserve and end to corporate fascism which has bought out both parties and

our elected officials --

[YOY]

48. Kinda reminds me of Chris Rock's "You're not SUPPOSED to go to jail!"

When he commented on folks bragging that they've never been to jail.

[YOY]

49. ...and if they invade anyways despite this "calm and control"?

n/t

[pundaint]

56. Adults are more culpable for the crimes they commit.

Presumably they should know better.

[Autonomy]

58. Mature leadership has extensive effects on the country

It reflects in every day living, the health and well-being of its people, the well-being of the economy, everything really. We are a healthier country with Obama in the White House.

[sui generis]

61. Okay - 23 hours of travel back from Germany yesterday

5 hours spent being screened and re-screened and ambush screened in Toronto last night while they closed the airport, cancelled most US flights and generally over reacted in every conceivable way.

I'm sorry - it may not have made political hay, but the TSA is fucking batshit stupid, and not letting anyone out of their seats to pee, read a book, or god forbid, tie your shoelaces for 60 minutes before landing is the absolute acme of profound stupidity, like 60 minutes is the magic number, not 61.

We were confined to the gate area, unless we wanted to be re-screened, food and beverage services were closed, airplane was not restocked, not even with water, and generally speaking flying back into America was enough of a pain in the ass that I briefly considered becoming a terrorist.

Jaysus H Phuckingchrist.

[disndat]

63. Given all the horrific things that have happened

after Bush stole the '00 election, does anyone not believe that 9/11 was an inside job? Clue: Bush's brother owned the security company in charge of security at the WTC at the time of 9/11.

[mike321]

64. Please do not call this a terrorist act!

Remember, Obama tells us to call these incidents “man-made disasters” now. We must end the use the word “terrorism.”