Why Is the President Always the Last to Know?

Dateline Today! Barack Obama says al-Qaida behind botched Christmas Day bomb plot

If Saturday Night Live doesn't do something with the rich comedy gold handed them on steaming platters of "Duh" during this week's unending moments of Obama self-beclownment they need to seek work as forensic proctologists on CSI:Podunk.

The comedy in this Guardian item just writes itself [slight emphasis added]:

US president reveals would-be suicide bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, trained by terror group affiliate in Yemen

Who knew? Thank you Barry for letting us in what you know and when you know it!

US president Barack Obama has accused al-Qaida of being behind the botched plot to blow up a transatlantic passenger jet on Christmas Day.

Really? Well sweet friggin' J'accuse! kid. They're shakin' in their sandals over there after having to actually tell you a few days ago.

He said it appeared that the alleged would-be suicide bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had been trained by an al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen.

Oh, it "appeared" did it? And when did this appearance appear? Sometime in your dreams or was it just whispered pillow-talk late at night in the lanani room.

"We're learning more about the suspect," Obama said in his weekly radio and internet address today.

Huh? Everything seems to be a "learning experience" for this willfully uninformed man. As an old Lone Ranger / Tonto joke goes, "What do you mean 'We' white man?" The "We" I know out here in the Wild Wild Web where we get our information from intelligent intelligence sources knew what you know now about a week ago. You really need to pay more attention, Mr. President. That is if you have any attention to pay with.

I have this very-old fashioned image of how the president of the United States is supposed to be kept up to speed on matters of national security. I don't know where I got it -- books, films, the White House press corps -- but it goes like this:

Every morning of every day the massively funded Central [No]Intelligence Agency and the highly computerized and surveillance enabled National [In]Security Agency sends a special memo to the president's desk outlining the cream of what is known about imminent threats to the United States. If things are extra-tense these agencies send along a staff member with a special briefing and to answer questions and get orders for more information. If things are catastrophic, that old 3 AM phone call goes off in the presidential bedroom, arugala muching room or putting green... wherever the president has chosen to be -- and the emergency information is relayed for evaluation and decisions.

The fact that it seems to have taken the president well over a week to learn what most Americans and America's enemies knew in the first 48 hours isn't giving me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

But who knows? It may at least be good for a few laughs if Saturday Night Lives sees its duty and does it. Tomorrow I'll check to see if it is time for Obama to link al-Qaida to Islam.

Posted by Vanderleun at January 2, 2010 11:22 AM