January 11, 2010
What are we to make of President Obama's pledge to do a better job fighting terrorism? It might have more credibility if for the past year he had not been making nice with sponsors of terrorism and pretending that good manners on America's part might produce good behavior on theirs. That is a failed policy from the beginning.
I'm glad the president emphasized the word and the concept of war. A leader must remind the public, whose attention can be distracted by tabloid trivia.
I also liked his suggestion that preemption might be good—getting them before they get us. Isn't that what President Bush was denounced for trying to do?
The proof is always in the pudding. Rhetoric, which this president is very good at, isn't the same as action. Will his far-left personnel fight this war to win, or sink back into their comfortable surroundings and act like pacifists. I'm betting on the latter, but hoping for the former. After all, we are all in this together.
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.
