President Obama’s problem right now is not that he is “weak on defense”—the hoary (and in his case easily discredited) attack line Republicans have been using on Democrats since 1972. The risk he faces with voters is the perception that his administration is, well, “dumb.”
And here are his suggestions to make sure Obama doesn’t look “dumb” on terror:
Fire some people. Somebody somewhere had to have screwed up, and if Obama wants to show that he is both smart and tough, he needs to find the weakest links in the chain and make an example of them. The risk is that it could engender the kind of internecine warfare that Obama, both as a candidate and a president, has so far avoided.
Ya think?
Blame Bush. It was the previous administration, not this one, that released Guantánamo detainees back into the wild in Yemen. It was the previous administration, not this one, that largely ignored Yemen for years. The risk for Obama is that he has used (overused) the blame-Bush trope for a year on the economy, the bank bailouts, and virtually every other topic that comes up. It’s losing its potency.
Obama ran on a pledge to empty Guantanamo, so there’s no hypocrisy here, right? (I do think the Bush administration does deserve some blame, as Clinton’s administration deserved some blame for 9/11.)
Reconfigure the bureaucracy. More than eight after 9/11, it may well be time to take another look at the monstrously complex array of agencies and departments involved in security, intelligence, and defense. Obama loves complexity, but even he has to be chagrined by the mess he inherited. If he is so smart—and he is—perhaps he needs to reduce the number of boxes on the flowchart from several dozen to a few. The risk in doing so is clear: he will be accused of being just another bureaucratically obsessed Beltway guy (the very person he promised not to be), and the ensuing turf battles would become an all-consuming preoccupation of the White House.
Ummm. Like John Bolton said to do?
Profiling. Don’t say that Obama isn’t moving in this direction: he is. Pat-downs at airports are now being administered not only to travelers from countries officially considered “state sponsors of terrorism,” but also from 10 “other countries of interest” that are of interest for one reason: they are mostly Muslim countries. The risk abroad in going further is clear: we look like racists and bigots. The political risk at home is more subtle: Obama’s whole identity is about tolerance.
Maybe Obama can blame Bush for not profiling? And finally. . .
Don’t allow airlines to sell one-way, luggageless cash tickets to anyone, from anywhere, ever again. Not immediately implementing this policy is, well, dumb.
Because terrorists would never be smart enough to check a bag or buy a round-trip ticket! Brilliant!