Dowd Takes Down Obama

Here's a bit from a Maureen Dowd NY Times op-ed in which he punches holes in Obama's pretend to be competent administration:

President Obama’s favorite word is “unprecedented,” as Carol Lee of Politico pointed out. Yet he often seems mired in the past as well, letting his hallmark legislation get loaded up with old-school bribes and pork; surrounding himself with Clintonites; continuing the Bushies’ penchant for secrecy and expansive executive privilege; doubling down in Afghanistan while acting as though he’s getting out; and failing to capitalize on snazzy new technology while agencies thumb through printouts and continue their old turf battles.

Even before a Nigerian with Al Qaeda links tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines jet headed to Detroit, travelers could see we had made no progress toward a technologically wondrous Philip K. Dick universe.

We seemed to still be behind the curve and reactive, patting down grannies and 5-year-olds, confiscating snow globes and lip glosses.

Instead of modernity, we have airports where security is so retro that taking away pillows and blankies and bathroom breaks counts as a great leap forward.

There's lots more. Go read the full article. You don't want to miss choice bits like:

If we can’t catch a Nigerian with a powerful explosive powder in his oddly feminine-looking underpants and a syringe full of acid, a man whose own father had alerted the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, a traveler whose ticket was paid for in cash and who didn’t check bags, whose visa renewal had been denied by the British, who had studied Arabic in Al Qaeda sanctuary Yemen, whose name was on a counterterrorism watch list, who can we catch?

And this:

Just because Republicans helped lead the ban on better technology and opposed airport security spending doesn’t mean they’ll stop Cheneying the Democrats for subverting national security.

What I can't belive is that fully 40% of Americans has no memory of how bad the Bush era was and how it set up all the failures now experienced. Nobody seems to notice that Republicans have hamstrung organizations like TSA because they refuse to approve the Obama appointee to run the agency. (Gee... if the Republicans hold out for another 36 months, the TSA will have lasted through the complete Obama years without anybody at the helm because Republicans are scared that the appointee might -- might! -- allow unionization among TSA staff. How's that for showing how 'patriotic' the Republicans truly are.)