Wednesday, December 30, 2009

President Obama was slow on the move in regards to the attempted airline terrorist attack

I have not written much because I am taking some holiday time off, but I have watched this airline incident unfold and this is my take.

The incident with the Nigerian individual, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was serious enough for the Obama Administration to make a statement within 24 hours and they did not. This incident happened on Christmas Day, December 25, 2009 but by the time President Obama took the microphone we all ready KNEW much of what happened which was failure in communication from all of these government agencies. Is anyone surprised at this? When the microphone was taken by President Obama, Monday, December 28, 2009, he was behind the eight ball.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano made a major snafu on the Sunday talk shows by actually stating, "the system worked", but immediately walked back this statement on Monday. Why? The system did not work and we all know this.



The system did not work. It is not the passengers’ responsibility to intervene in any terror plot; it is the government's responsibility to make sure this does not happen period. To hear that this individual's name was on a list, that his father went to the American Embassy in Nigeria that he was just out in the open is outrage. Now, what should happen to this "underwear bomber"? We already take our shoes off at airports, what is next; full body search as in the strip down type? At this point, what is the point in even flying now? Not for this, I hope.

The one word I remember from the Bush Administration was incompetence. President Obama was subdued on Monday, but became angered by the time Tuesday came and took responsibility. As he should.

The Obama White House is very cautious and that is OK, on some levels, but when something like this happens when a bomb could have potentially gone off, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Head of State needs to be in front of a camera with a statement, IMMEDIATELY, like within 24 hours. It took this White House 72 hours before President Obama made his first remarks, by then we knew everything from the reporting about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a wealthy banker’s son, a prestigious London college grad and now an accused terrorist.

Incompetence can happen easily, as we have seen revealed by these government agencies, but I don't ever want President Obama making a statement on a serious event 72 hours later, I don't care if he is on vacation, the public needs to be informed and it should come from HIM. Will this be a big deal? Short term, No. Why? Folks are on holiday, vacation and not paying attention. But long term, this should be fixed within these agencies and it better not take President Obama 72 hours to address the country again regarding an incident like this. Did you get that White House?

From morning joe:



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