WASHINGTON — The last time a terrorist planted a bomb aimed at killing so many civilian men, women and children in America, President Obama got scalded for his slow, tepid and detached response.
Still smarting from those political wounds, he was not about to make that mistake again with the attempted Times Square bombing.
The champagne hadn’t even worn off from dinner with White House correspondents Saturday night when Obama began getting briefed on details of the attempted attack and investigation.
By sunup, White House officials were detailing every briefing Obama was getting.
After suspect Faisal Shahzad was nabbed trying to flee the country, the White House issued yet another statement outlining how many briefings Obama had gotten the day before and the exact time he was alerted to the arrest.
And, apparently, word went out to all corners of the administration to show some real hustle this time. Attorney General Eric Holder swept into action along with Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano and the full force of the FBI, DHS, TSA and any agency in the alphabet that might be able to assist in the investigation.
When Shahzad got arrested at JFK, Holder did not let the sun rise before heralding the very fine and heroic police work that went into it. He held a press conference at 1:30 yesterday morning. Then he held another yesterday afternoon.
Some of the regulars noted that all the televisions in the Justice Department briefing room, which normally carry leftist CNN or MSNBC, were tuned to Fox News — a sure sign that Justice finally takes the war on terror seriously.
This is a welcome development in a president who last year told an audience in Egypt that it was part of his job as president to defend Islam.
But at Holder’s afternoon press conference, there was evidence that the administration had not fully grasped this new way of thinking.
Despite the bombing attempt in the heart of New York, Holder said he is still considering holding the civilian terror trials in Manhattan — as if the place needs another reason to be targeted.
It’s like they don’t get the concept of what it means to be terrorized. And until they do, all their talk will be just that.