Does anyone remember Kevin Bacon in Animal House? Bacon played the clueless ROTC cadet and Omega House pledge who unsuccessfully tried to quell the bedlam brought on by Blutarski et al. of Delta House. Bacon kept yammering that all was well. But in the end he was flattened by the fleeing crowd.
Yesterday, the President tried to reassure the nation. Instead of pleading like Kevin Bacon, Obama robotically told us that the government was doing all it could be doing to keep us safe. As a raft of commentators have already pointed out, Obama was passionless in tone, much as he sounds passionless about the unemployed. Sure, Obama said that we would not rest until he found those who were accountable. But the tone of commitment and intent were lacking. As was his tie. Not a performance that reassures or comforts.
Obama sounds like a very, very reluctant warrior. Reagan could convey indignation. Bush 41’s quiet manners masked steeliness. But Obama leaves you with a sense of I don’t know. In the past, he went at the Somali pirates. But this time the threat was to American soil. And somehow Obama seemed AWOL. Obama seemed to be reacting to a move on a chess board — not a potential catastrophe.
The administration still defends its decision not to revoke the terrorist’s visa. Reverence for due process is overtaking the primacy of American lives.
On the other hand, Obama’s performance was a marked improvement over DHS Chief Napolitano who confused resourceful civilians with effective Homeland security.
Make no mistake. She is this administrations Brownie. And unlike Brownie, I bet she stays on. A Red State woman. That’s about the only kind of passenger profiling this administration will embrace.
Getting back to Animal House. Obama is no hapless pledge. He is the President. But a few more performances like this, and like the guys in Delta House he may get the boot.
17 responses so far
1 blowtorch_bob // Dec 29, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Yeah sure, blame Obama…but seriously do you think the threat of terror is somewhat OVERSTATED compared to say someone living in Afghanistan who at any instant may fall victim to a NATO air strike…or to someone living in, let’s say Iraq, which is accused of having hmm…let’s say WMD’s, and they are invaded because you know we have to make the world safe and it turns out that these WMD’s didn’t exist (surprize! surprize!) but the country is still invaded anyways.
2 mlloyd // Dec 29, 2009 at 4:18 pm
When Michael Brown failed during a crisis, thousands of Americans died. Stop your pants-wetting and your nonsensical comparisons. You trivialize our problems and distort the discourse.
3 teabag // Dec 29, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Why are right wingers such pussies? They cower in the face of some kid with his underpants on fire. Ridiculous. Get a grip man and stop wetting the bed.
Brownie failed and thousands of Black people died. Not a lot of tears were shed in the Bush White-house over that. He did a heck of a job as the idiot Bush proclaimed.
4 Carney // Dec 29, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Wait, a natural disaster no human could have prevented, and the response to which was the primary responsibility of (corrupt, incompetent) state and local officials, is in any way comparable to terrorism? A near-miss terror attack in which the terrorist slipped through multiple layers of security and multiple opportunities to catch him?
Also, I remind you that nobody seems to have been wailing about FEMA and Michael Brown in Mississippi, governed by competent Republican Haley Barbour. Why was FEMA so effective there but so ineffective in Louisiana? Maybe the issue wasn’t FEMA after all.
5 teabag // Dec 29, 2009 at 4:36 pm
See Bush was really on the ball, took six days to give a passing remark. Fixed
6 Carney // Dec 29, 2009 at 4:41 pm
I’m actually glad he mentioned the tie. Unless you’re clearing brush or otherwise doing something that obviously calls for some other clothing, a president should always wear a tie. He’s not just an administrator – he’s our head of state, the living symbol of our country and our people, and should uphold the highest standard of dignity and deportment. Juvenile “too cool for a tie” posing speaks volumes.
7 teabag // Dec 29, 2009 at 4:52 pm
“Unless you’re clearing brush” you missed out “At your fake ranch” Fixed.
8 JJWFromME // Dec 29, 2009 at 5:09 pm
“Make no mistake. She is this administrations Brownie.”
Um… Former governor, Arabian horse show commissioner and cronie, what’s the difference right? (Oh right, the difference is that before you had a massive right wing claque defending anything a Bushie did, former Arabian horse show commissioner or no.)
9 teabag // Dec 29, 2009 at 6:06 pm
You are right what Obama should have done if he was a real leader is to.
Drag an aircraft carrier off of it’s mission so he can fake land a jet on the deck and appear in a flight suit and cod piece. Then he can give a speech that the mission has been accomplished 6 years before it actually nearly was.
He could hang a giant Banner as a sop to his giant ego proclaiming “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED”
10 sinz54 // Dec 29, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Every columnist’s big fear is writing a column which is soon thereafter overtaken by events.
Sorry, Mr. Green, I think this column of yours qualifies.
Today, Obama spoke out formally about the terrorist attack. And he sounded firm and determined to me. Firm in his conviction to keep going after al-Qaeda; determined to get to the bottom of just what went wrong, so it can be fixed.
I think he should have spoken out sooner, rather than let Napolitano make a fool of herself in public and take arrows for him.
But that’s not his style.
He prefers to say nothing at all, until he has sufficient facts.
If that left Americans scared and/or angry for a few days, he’ll have to take the heat in the public opinion polls for that.
11 Kanzeon // Dec 29, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Man, this is weak.
Did you go to college? Did they teach you to write an essay? Did they teach you things about topic sentences, and support for propositions?
You think that Obama sounded dispassionate, and he had a bad tie. You think that Reagan and Bush 41 sounded tough. And there are probably a bunch of right wing commentators who are making the same comments. But you don’t tie this to a topic sentence: did his speech understate the threat, and if so, how? If only the TONE was lacking, then he didn’t understate the threat. He just had poor delivery, in the eyes of partisans.
I don’t get what you’re trying to say. You’re just whining that you don’t like Obama or Nepolitano. Why should anyone on the entire earth care?
I’m coming to the conclusion that Americans simply lack the ability to take anything seriously anymore. We have a crisis, and you respond with a whine about style and Animal House comparisons. It’s embarrassing.
12 jabbermule // Dec 30, 2009 at 7:05 am
teabag:
“Then he can give a speech that the mission has been accomplished 6 years before it actually nearly was”
So, you’re admitting that the Iraq mission is actually nearly accomplished? With Obama continuing the EXACT SAME Bush policy in Iraq? LOL – your bias is astounding. I’m sure you were one of those idiots that stood up and cheered when Harry Reid announced in 2006 that the war in Iraq was “lost.”
13 JeninCT // Dec 31, 2009 at 11:30 am
Just as Obama was annoyed that his Vineyard vacation was interrupted by Teddy’s passing, his tie-less petulance during his appearance from Hawaii showed that he really just feels like he can’t catch a break. He’s tired of being president.
14 Kevin B // Dec 31, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Why doesn’t Obama wear a top hat? When did it become okay for a leader to walk around bare-headed all the time?
15 MI-GOPer // Dec 31, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Kevin B asks: “When did it become okay for a leader to walk around bare-headed all the time?”
That would have been about the time of the last democrat Philanderer in Chief occupied the Oval Office, namely the vote-stealing, fraudulently elected John Kennedy. All the Kennedy boys were bareheaded back then– it helped expedite the passing around of White House interns and Hollywood starlets between Bobbie and Jack and Ted.
Obama is the ultimate failure of prediential leadership… he should have fired his Brownie Moment pals in Napolitano and Gibbs. He should have come out of hiding to comment on the Detroit-NWA bomber before 2 news cycles ate up his incompetent staffers –”the system worked, nothing to see, move along, there’s no terrorist here” and “law enforcement has it all under control”.
Idiots. Inexperience was elevated to high office with Obama and we’re all suffering under the burden of some of the voters’ misplaced trust. Political correctness in electing Obama will never trump having a real leader in the Oval Office. At least he isn’t like most democrats; Obama doesn’t have the Tiger Woods (D) problem… yet.
16 MI-GOPer // Dec 31, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Sinz54 alleges “Today, Obama spoke out formally about the terrorist attack. And he sounded firm and determined to me”. Sorry Sinz54 that’s pure spin. Obama’s first comments were woefully inadequate and he sounded more like the terrorist’s trial lawyer than our nominal temporary president… “allegedly” this and “allegedly” that. The terrorist had a bomb in his whitey tighties and he ignited the device –how can that be allegedly even in Obama’s sick, twisted and highly selective pre 9-11 mind? Maybe this is how he can avoid confronting the reality –like with ACORN’s vote fraud to get him elected… it’s just allegedly improprieties and criminal activities of his #1 fan base? Allegedly he’s been able to avoid leadership on the War on Terror, too.
We can skip the stupidity of Obama’s whole “isolated incident” phrase for now. Stupid twice isn’t a good thing even for Biden, let alone Obama. And “Brownie” Napolitano’s failure in saying the system worked and everyone is perfectly safe while flying?? Gheesh.
You say, in his defense, Obama “… prefers to say nothing at all, until he has sufficient facts.” Crap. What he prefers is to do is wait for the teleprompter to be loaded so staff can tell the actor he’s “On” and here are his lines for the day. Inexperienced idiot of the 1st Order. And MIA on the War on Terror. He needs to stay in LaLaLand and work on his golf game, his snorkeling skills, his body surfing and all the rest… we’re safer without him in DC.
17 brandon // Jan 2, 2010 at 1:15 am
When it comes to Obama and the terror threat, Charles Krauthammer gets it right once again.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZWI2MGE2YTE4MzM4M2QyMTE5ZWE0OWI0Y2E3OTZiMGU=
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