Obama's "I'm Tough On Terror, Too" Speech

[cwo_ghwebb]

I have just flipped on the live coverage of The One's speech on national security and my goodness - peevish Obama seems really irritated with us for expecting him to deal with these issues. As a good (and now abashed) citizen I almost want to send him some sort of apology note. Almost.

/SNIP

DUELING CARICATURES: Obama characterizes the national debate as having divided us into two poles - the left believes that almost no national security issue takes precedence over transparency and the right has a view that can be summed as "Anything Goes".

Really? "Anything goes"? Did he actually read the OLC enhanced interrogation memos, which made it clear that lots of things wouldn't go?

As a rhetorical device, I am not sure how offending both sides is helpful.

And it gets better! President Answerman explains that 'these problems can easily be solved if we approach them with honesty, care, and common sense.'

So - are both lefties and righties lacking all three of those desirable qualities, or is it split somehow - maybe righties are dishonest but lefties lack common sense? Puzzling. Well, my common sense (and my WaPo) tells me that sometimes a rough interrogation can be both effective and fall short of torture - I guess I am either dishonest, careless, or foolish. Or all three!

JustOneMinute: Obama's "I'm Tough On Terror, Too" Speech

As usual, right on the money.