Thursday, April 03, 2008

BARACK OBAMA

When Hijacked Planes Are Headed For the Capitol, Obama Will 'Weigh The Costs and Benefits'

Barack Obama's fans will say this is a fine answer to a hypothetical query from Chris Matthews about what he does if he gets a 3 a.m. phone call that hijacked jets are on their way towards the Capitol (or, I suppose, Matthews might have meant Washington D.C. as a whole if he means "the capital"). To me, it's one step above Dukakis' bloodless response to Bernie Shaw's question about whether he would support the death penalty to someone who raped and murdered his wife.

Asked about a scenario that sounds like a rerun of 9/11, Obama's first instinct is to say "what you want is somebody who's going to get all the facts and gather good intelligence" and who can weigh the "costs and benefits."

The national security adviser calls the president at three in the morning and tells you a couple of commercial jets have been hijackacked by al Qaeda and are headed toward the Capitol, Matthews asked Obama at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. “What do you do?’’

“Well look,’’ Obama replied, “I am hestitant to engage in hypotheticals like that.’’

But things that like might be predictable, said Matthews, host of MSNBC’s Hardball.

“I don’t think anybody predicted 9/11,’’ Obama said. “And, so, we don't know what kinds of circumstances are going to come up.

''Here's the important thing about that 3:00 a.m. phone call,'' he said. "What you want is somebody who is, first of all, going to get all the facts and gather up good intelligence. The second thing you want is somebody who is able to analyze the situation, the costs and benefits of action.

"We want somebody who is going to be decisive,'' he said. "And I won't hesitate to strike against somebody who would do us harm, if that's what is required.

“If you think about, for example, John F. Kennedy, his biggest mistake was going ahead with military action that hadn’t been thought through,’’ Obama said, in an apparent reference to the Bay of Pigs invasion. “His greatest triumph was actually showing restraint in a very dangerous, difficult situation'' — presumably, the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Video here. Like I said, those who already love Obama will probably say it's a great answer. But I can't help but wonder if those who have doubts about the Illinois Senator will see him as overestimating how much time he will have to do that intelligence gathering, analysis, and weighing of costs and benefits. On 9/11, the U.S. military and civilian command structure seemed a half-step behind in responding to events; ultimately the authorization to shoot down hijacked planes was moot.

(Keep in mind that in this circumstance, President Obama probably wouldn't be awakened by a ringing phone; if he were in the White House at the time, the Secret Service would probably already be grabbing him and moving him to a more secure location.)

I also can't help but wonder if Matthews expected a simpler answer, basically whether or not he would authorize the Air Force to shoot down the planes if they get the opportunity.

UPDATE: Campaign Spot reader John wonders how many Cuban-Americans will agree with Obama's assessment of the Bay of Pigs, and that Kennedy's triumph was "showing restraint," while Bryan notes that when Obama says that no one could have predicted 9/11, lefty bloggers have a diametrically opposed position.

04/03 12:00 PMShare