President Obama and Dick Cheney continue to be the strongest
advocates for their vision of how to fight the War on Terror. The
text of Obama's speech is
here and Cheney's speech is
here. Obama gave a characteristically nuanced speech,
explaining how his administration has sought to fight terrorism
in a way that is consistent with our values, and said "we went
off course" during the Bush administration.
I thought this was the strongest section of Cheney's speech:
The administration seems to pride itself on searching for some
kind of middle ground in policies addressing terrorism. They
may take comfort in hearing disagreement from opposite ends of
the spectrum. If liberals are unhappy about some decisions, and
conservatives are unhappy about other decisions, then it may
seem to them that the President is on the path of sensible
compromise. But in the fight against terrorism, there is no
middle ground, and half-measures keep you half exposed. You
cannot keep just some nuclear-armed terrorists out of the
United States, you must keep every nuclear-armed terrorist out
of the United States. Triangulation is a political strategy,
not a national security strategy. When just a single clue that
goes unlearned … one lead that goes unpursued … can bring on
catastrophe – it’s no time for splitting differences. There is
never a good time to compromise when the lives and safety of
the American people are in the balance.
Cheney also reminded the audience that there weren't any attacks
on U.S. soil in the seven and a half years since 9/11, which he
attributed to the administration's effective policies that Obama
is unraveling.
While I think this is a very important debate, there is a sense
in which it doesn't really matter. Obama is running the show now,
and he's going to decide what he thinks will make America safe --
no president wants to see thousands of American civilians killed.
He says that the Bush administration's policies not only violated
our ideals, but they made us less safe, fine. Now he's changing
those policies, so we'll be able to judge him based on his
performance.
That's why I thought this statement by Obama, toward the end of
his speech, was interesting:
Neither I nor anyone else can standing here today can say that
there will not be another terrorist attack that takes American
lives. But I can say with certainty that my Administration –
along with our extraordinary troops and the patriotic men and
women who defend our national security – will do everything in
our power to keep the American people safe.
Obama campaigned for nearly two years on the premise that Bush
was utterly incompetent and as president, Obama has displayed
confidence that his own way of doing things is superior. I hope
Obama is correct. But if there's a major terrorist attack on his
watch, it won't be satisfactory to simply say "we tried our
best." It's hard to argue that national security policies that
kept us safe for seven and a half years were wrongheaded, if you
change those policies and there's another attack on the homeland.
