President Clinton famously adopted a scheme by political adviser Dick Morris, where he would find something the government was doing anyway and then spin it as a presidential initiative to create illusion that the presidency really was like Josh Bartlett’s White House where the Oval Office made all the tough calls everyday.
Now is appears as if Obama is playing Morris method with homeland security, trumpeting the White House role in foiling the Zazi terrorist plot. It was “test” of the presidency crowed a senior administration official. “It demonstrated that we were able to successfully neutralize threat…”
Not mentioned at all was that this plot was primarily thwarted because at all the programs put in place after 9/11 under Bush’s pilloried presidency. Nor did the official mentions that no intervention or leadership was required from the White House to stop Zazi. According to a Heritage report at least 26 terrorist plots against the US have been foiled since 9/11, none required the president to act like Josh Bartlett or Harrison Ford.
Laurels to the professionals that thwarted the plot. Darts to the president for trying to steal the limelight and turn the people’s safety into a political presidential moment.
