Obama Isn't Weak on Terrorists, But He Is Weaker

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is profiling - and we won't use it because it because our nation is in a straight-jacket of "P.C. tolerance".
Focus the majority of our security resources on Muslim men, under 50, from Muslim countries ( for the past 25 years this group represents 100% of airline terror) and not on 75 year old grannies in support hose. Duh.......
If we had the political will to do this in the past thousands of innocents would be alive today, and we wouldn't be at war in several different countries.
You can't be "inclusive" and "tolerant" when you're dead.

R.L. Schaefer of CA 1:27PM December 31, 2009

drivel
Check your meds Mr. Roff. None if this makes a bit of sense. Each and every paragraph (except for the fourth) is made up crap and a series of illogical leaps. Sure, there's a market for it (as evidenced by the comments), but if you were a man of integrity and intelligence, you'd resist the urge put out this sort of drivel. Any twelve year old with internet access could rip apart everything you say in this piece. I can't figure out if you know you're full of it and this is just a job, or if you have some gears loose.
Can't USNWR find a rightie that at least tries to make sense? Come on, USNWR, you used to have standards. The fact that you feel the need to have a right wing writer doesn't mean you have to put out this kind of stuff.

jimatmadison of WI 12:22PM December 31, 2009

People need to stop with the "Obama inherited the problem" cop-out. The guy has been in office now for almost a year. At what point do the problems become his? "The system worked" will rank right up there with "Mission Accomplished" in the lexicon of political blunders.
BTW, Obama DID, actually, throw away the phrase "war on terror". It is now an "overseas contingency operation". I don't know what difference that was supposed to make.
Every day provides copious evidence that the job of President is outstripping Mr. Obama's abilities. Perhaps being a community organizer does not provide one with the requisite experience to deal with external terrorist threats.

Glenn of UT 10:02AM December 31, 2009

The incompetency of the government is not a new idea and wasn't created by President Obama...he is dealing with the moronic, selfish turf wars that symbolized (and in some ways was created by the cronyism of) the little Bush era of ineptitude.
Everyone knows that we were never safer after 9/11...It was just an illusion perpetrated by the cronies of the little Bush.
WAKE UP PEOPLE...THE TERRORISTS WILL NEVER DESTROY WHAT WE HAVE...WE WILL DESTROY OURSELVES BY OUR PETTY PARTISANSHIP AND OUR INHUMANE INTOLERANCE OF OUR FELLOW CITIZENS...
As the pledge goes...."DIVIDED WE FALL"

roscoe of MI 6:07AM December 31, 2009

it is outrageous that a candidate from the left has been elected president, esp. with their disregard to the seriousness of terror. the left believes that george bush is the terrorist and that by having a liberal as president, the terror goes away...obama saids "let us learn" from the detroit incident, when in fact i have already learned and this incident is certainly not a wake up call as i have been wide awake the entire time, unlike radicals liberals such as our president.

Justin Matlow of TX 10:49PM December 30, 2009

As an attack dog you do a great job. You sure will make a great Republican Congressman or better still a Senator, because that is exactly what they are good at doing: attack, obstruct and "do-nothing".
Rather than just demonizing the President why don't you propose a constructive solution. Are you suggesting that we were a stronger nation last nine years? Osama Bin Ladin and his associates are still free and the American economy is in a sink hole. If President Obama is weaker, it is because of his weakness in not firing the incompetent individuals who have been in charge and are still running our intelligence operations: individuals who still haven't figured out how to connect the dots.

Bobo of ID 8:54PM December 30, 2009

A long overdue and much appreciated column. This President seems slightly petulant at the idea of even having to address the terrorism issue.

C. Hoke of KS 8:24PM December 30, 2009

It is really sad that you are making the terrorist plot a political issue. It is ok given the fact that there is no such thing as "winning the war on terror". How can this president be weak when he sends 30,000 troops to escalate the war in Afghanistan? Are you serious? He approves missile strikes in Yemen, somalia, and in Pakistan-all countries we are not at war with but he still does it. The only difference I think is that he doesn't pound his chest and act emotional like the terrorist.

Sean of VA 5:59PM December 30, 2009

as winning the "war on terror". That's because there is no "war". Just a continuing need for vigilence and at times, action. Many Americans realize this truth - now that the Bush propaganda machine has been shut down. Many others feel lost without some "bad-guy" to hate.
Obama has brought us more information, which has sometimes been less settling than operating in the dark, as we did under Bush. The far left doesn't think information is open enough, but little will satisfy them. The public cried for more transparency, and we have had it since January 2009. What that same public does with all that info is not impressive. It frightens them, so they run to FOX for assurances based on fiction, and town hall meetings to vent their anger at the chaotic status of the world and the lack of economic stability they thought would always exist. Never has the average uneducated public been bombarded with more information that they are ill-prepared to process.
As long as we engage in military occupations and attmpting to control other countries, there will be groups that feel they must act against us by performing acts of terrorism. This recent set of events is not a global conspiracy - just the usual network of violent types. In the 1970's Baader-Meinhof was terrorizing Europe and in other countries airplanes were being hijacked. The Iranian embassy in 1979. In the 1980's, we had Iran-Contra under Reagan (arms for political favors), Nicaragua and Panama. In the 1990's, various separatist movements with radical elements. Since 9/11, muslim terrorists.
Terrorists should be tried and punished by American legal standards. Bush handled the "shoe-bomber" no differently than Obama. Where was the outrage then??????? Why is Obama considered weaker if his actions are similar?
Obama is not weaker. Saying that is ridiculous. Just because he doesn't swagger about like John Wayne doesn't mean he won't act when required. Big talk by Bush did not protect us from 9/11 or the "shoe-bomber".
Roff's article is about cheerleading, not leadership. Bluster & bravado, not communication. Maybe the American public is not ready for a rational, intelligent president who is also consequent. Many Americans seem incapable of processing simple information effectively. They like the swagger, the jerk leaning on a podium while someone throws a shoe at him, the continuous drain on our tax dollars to finance a $600 billion annual military budget. Roff sounds like he is with them.
Still waters run deep (a quote). I prefer a President we can respect, not an adolescent nation that shoots first and asks questions later. Obama is tough on terrorists - but he is more careful in defining who they are.
He is not weaker than Bush. The world respects him more than Bush.
Do not confuse fancy photo ops in front of signs saying "Mission Accomplished" with real toughness.

Dorfy of SC 5:40PM December 30, 2009

Again the only thing weak is your perverted logic.
Your partisan celebration of attacks on America are disgusting, and few of us are happy to have the US attacked again which you and Cheney seem to relish.
How dumb do you think we are? Of course most feel "America is not safer than it was before 9/11", but most Americans will agree that the "War on Terrorism" was sidetracked by the costly optional war in Iraq. Bush ignored binLaden and Al Quaida letting them continue to plot.

Sam of NY 5:04PM December 30, 2009