Today we’ve re-posted a story I wrote in December 2001 about Bill Clinton’s record on terrorism. Amid protests that ABC’s “The Path to 9/11″ exaggerates Clinton’s failures, it’s important to remember that the unvarnished facts of his performance are bad enough. As the attacks piled up — the 1993 World Trade Center attack, the 1996 Khobar Towers attack, the 1998 embassy attacks, the 2000 USS Cole attack — he often did not seem to know what to do. But taking a poll sometimes helped. For example, in June 1996, after the Khobar bombing, as Clinton vowed “The cowards who committed this murderous act must not go unpunished,” top Clinton adviser Dick Morris

was hard at work conducting polls to gauge the public’s reaction to the bombing. “Whenever there was a crisis, I ordered an immediate poll,” Morris recalls. “I was concerned about how Clinton looked in the face of [the attack] and whether people blamed him.” The bombing happened in the midst of the president’s re-election campaign, and even though Clinton enjoyed a substantial lead over Republican Bob Dole, Morris worried that public dissatisfaction with Clinton on the terrorism issue might benefit Dole.
Indeed, Morris’s first poll showed less support for Clinton than he had hoped. But by the time Morris presented his findings to the president and top staffers at a political-strategy meeting a few days later, public approval of Clinton’s response had climbed-something Morris noted in his written agenda for the session:
SAUDI BOMBING — recovered from Friday and looking great Approve Clinton handling 73-20 Big gain from 63-20 on Friday Security was adequate 52-40 It’s not Clinton’s fault 76-18

Later, though, after the crash of TWA Flight 800 heightened fears about terrorism, Morris’ polling found the public was worried not only about air safety but also had renewed concerns about Clinton’s performance in the Khobar investigation:

Morris found that the number of people who believed Clinton was “doing all he can to investigate the Saudi bombing and punish those responsible” was just 54 percent, while 32 percent believed he could do more. Morris feared that White House inaction would allow Dole to portray Clinton as soft on national security.
“We tested two alternative defenses to this attack: Peacemaker or Toughness,” Morris wrote in a memo for the president. In the “Peacemaker” defense, Morris asked voters to respond to the statement, “Clinton is peacemaker. Brought together Arabs and Israelis. Ireland. Bosnia cease fire. Uses strength to bring about peace.” The other defense, “Toughness,” asked voters to respond to “Clinton tough. Stands up for American interests. Against foreign companies doing business in Cuba. Sanctions against Iran. Anti-terrorist legislation held up by Republicans. Prosecuted World Trade Center bombers.” Morris found that the public greatly preferred “Toughness.”