Obama on Extremism

Obama spoke out again about the crotch bomber, the second time in two days, after refusing to interrupt his golf over the weekend (except for a surfboard accident in the holiday party).

Talk about bland rhetoric, it was pretty much a further walking back of the Napolitano cat. He sounded more like a mid level Pentagon spokesman than a president discussing national defense.

As to content, well, if Obama is going to take a Clinton-model law enforcement approach to terrorism (that's why Holder is there) then he needs to explain to the American people that the risks of attack will be higher than under Bush. To do otherwise would be a dereliction of duty. He started it today, and it's about time.

Obama and company undoubtedly counted on his charm, Muslim roots, different word choices (no more using 'terrorist') and the closing of Bush terror facilities and programs to reduce the level of Islamohate and thereby reduce the chances of attack. As a result we've gotten a year of almost constant threats/attacks. Such is the by-product of a law enforcement approach--go back to when Holder was last in government for confirmation of that fact. And it's something the public needs to understand. Reviews aren't going to change much.

One more thing, about words. Obama and minions are purposely using the word "extremist" over terrorist to describe the crotch bomber and anyone else who wields the sword of Allah against us. The Bush folks were in the process of morphing away from the standard terminology before leaving office but with Obama there's just something incomplete about the way he's using 'extremist'. Here he is from Monday:

We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us, whether they are from Afghanistan or Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia, or anywhere where they are plotting attacks against the U.S. homeland.

He was careful to say 'violent' extremist, since someone can have extremist views and not be violent. But by not specifying Islamic terror he's leaving the door open to just about everyone of ill will against the government being an extremist, including Tim McVeigh types here in the USA. Go back to that DHS report on right wing "extremists" and the way some on the left wildly described the tea partiers and you'll get the picture.