Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Begone Puny Mortals!

How dare anyone suggest that President Obama doesn't take national security seriously because he so rarely receives oral briefings where he can directly interact with agency representatives!

Mark Thiessen has the nerve to defend his original reporting on the issue in the face of dismissive explanations from "one of the "most sophisticated consumers of intelligence on the planet." Thiessen's rebuttal is pathetic in its simplicity and lack of nuance:

What Kessler and the Obama White House do argue is a matter, not of fact, but of opinion — that it does not matter if Obama attends a daily intelligence meeting because he reads his PDB every day. Kessler compares Obama to former presidents going back to Reagan and Nixon and finds that “many did not have an oral briefing” – and that this means Obama has simply “chosen to receive his information in a different manner than his predecessor.” There are several problems with this.

First, Kessler ignores one giant difference between then and now: Sept. 11, 2001.

Our intelligence agencies have adapted to the preferences of our super genius consumer of intelligence.

He's doing just fine this way.

Isn't it readily apparent?

Face it, our president just doesn't believe we are at war. Not at war with jihadis, anyway.