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McCain foreign policy advisor Randy Scheunemann said, "Once again we have seen that Senator Obama is the perfect manifestation of the Sept. 10 mindset."

While Obama did not himself respond to the criticism, his campaign held a dueling conference call in which John Kerry attacked McCain for supporting Bush's anti-terrorism policies and a "disgusted" Richard Clarke, the former counterterrorism official, argued that Obama supports a comprehensive approach of which law enforcement is only one part.

BUT DESPITE RARE instances of tough-sounding rhetoric meant to assuage concerns about his softness on terrorism, such as his vow to hit targets in Pakistan, Obama has not given much indication that fighting terrorism is a top priority for him.

As somebody who has attended dozens of Obama's speeches, rallies, and town hall meetings over the past 15 months, I can attest to the fact that he does not emphasize the threat of terrorism in speeches unless they are specifically geared to a national security audience.

His rhetoric is full of calls for hope and promises of change. He talks about health care, the environment, education, and the need to pull troops out of Iraq.

But other than an occasional mention of how Iraq was a diversion from fighting al Qaeda, references to terrorism are largely absent from his standard stump speeches.

In the wake of Sept. 11, there was widespread agreement that the worst attack that America had suffered in its history was attributable to our inability to recognize the magnitude of the terrorist threat.

In the years that followed, as per human nature, life began to return to normal and more and more intellectuals started questioning whether the terrorist threat was overblown. Instead of seeing the absence of subsequent attacks as evidence that perhaps the Bush administration's aggressive policies have been effective at combating terrorism, many have drawn the opposite conclusion.

Barack Obama's candidacy is the clearest embodiment of the old way of thinking that doesn't see terrorism as such a big deal. More than anything else, his candidacy is tempting voters with the not-too-subtle promise of moving the nation into the post-post-9/11 world.

McCain's chances in November hinge on whether he can effectively communicate to voters why that is such a perilous course.

topics:
Foreign Policy, Education, Trade, Health Care, Barack Obama, Environment, Law, Iraq, Pakistan, NATO, Africa