Thursday, May 21, 2009

Battle Royale

So, the White House announced that President Obama will deliver a “major” speech on antiterrorism policy today. The timing isn’t entirely clear, but MSNBC reports that it will be “about an hour” after former Vice President Dick Cheney delivers an address on the same topic here at the American Enterprise Institute.

The announcement of the former Veep’s address went out officially from AEI on May 12, though he had been asked to give a talk a couple of weeks before. (We asked him because this is one of the most important national security issues of the day, and AEI is committed to informing and prompting a public debate consisting of more than sound bites.) President Obama’s speech was announced today.


What do we think? 1) The Obama White House runs the savviest information ops of any White House in modern history. This is all about rebutting an increasingly effective exponent of aggressive counterterrorism policies. 2) Why do it? The simple answer is that the public is listening to Cheney on the issues, and if the Democratic Congress’s decision this week to deny funding to close Gitmo is any indication, finger-in-the-wind politicians are listening, too.

There’s another message in the former vice president’s efforts to rally the nation behind a robust policy: Americans know we are at war. They don’t want Gitmo’s denizens in their backyards. They aren’t embarrassed by their country, by their soldiers in the field, or by their public servants striving to keep them safe.

Mr. President, take note: It’s not just about the air time. Leadership matters

Especially in times of war.


Submitted by Danielle Pletka

Art -"Battle Royale" by Pascal Blanche

2 comments:

  1. Barry babbled about what I expected: "Gitmo isn't my fault".

    Matter of fact, Barry, yes it is: politicians like you, Bill Clinton, Bela Pelosi, et al, led a generation of terrorists to believe that we could be cowed into appeasing them and running in fear from them. Thus begetting 9/11. Where it went wrong for the terrorists was that the people in charge at the time of 9/11 weren't the same spineless appeasers who led through the 90s. Thus, thanks to the corrupt and bankrupt policies of liberal appeasement that brought us to 9/11, we needed places LIKE Gitmo to collect this human refuse and trash into, to protect innocent Americans from them.

    Too bad we couldn't put some of the idiot politicians like Bill, Hill, Barney, Teddy, Bela Pelosi, et al, into Gitmo to share accommodations with their brethren. But the Constitution and Bill of Rights still allow for stupidity on the part of Liberals.

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  2. Close up Gitmo immediately and send the inmates to the ranch in Crawford, Texas.

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