I was kind of shocked when I read this:
It came as no surprise to anyone who knows her that Napolitano handled the incident and its aftermath with aplomb. In the years I have known her, she has managed every challenge that has come her way with the same calm command that she showed in this instance. If there is anyone in the administration who embodies President Obama’s preference for quiet competence with “no drama,” it is Janet Napolitano.
I watched as she made the rounds of the morning interview programs on Sunday, laying out what she knew about the would-be terrorist and carefully refusing to speculate about the many matters that were still being investigated. She is being criticized for saying “the system worked,” but her part of the response system did work.
The whole column is little more than a mash note to Janet, but I was shocked to see the portion about the system. Broder is usually more concerned with appearances, and the bipartisan thing to do for him is usually to agree with Republican criticisms of Democrats.
kid bitzer
strange; i didn’t know they shopped at the same grocery store.
(eta: i say this not in criticism of napolitano, but in criticism of broder).
AhabTRuler
Problem is, I don’t want a blind squirrel…
gbear
Is DougJ still too hung over to post?
joe from Lowell
David Broder thinks he’s in love.
cleek
she’s a chummy insider, just like Broder, and she tickles his bi-partisanship spot. so Broder can only speak well of her. it’s just more shallow Villiager love.
anonymoose
John, I think you found one of the rare instances where a person who did the right thing is “in” with a Villager….and they will defend them even if their natural instinct is bipartisan at all costs.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
It’s already April Fool’s Day? Time flies eh?
kwAwk
I felt the same way when I read it. That is the key to moving forward our dialogue in this country is to develop an expectation that journalists call out political bullshit when they see it instead of just playing the game.
I’ve always like Chris Matthews, but at the same time, my biggest criticism of him is that he likes the game too much. I think this holds true for a lot of the political pundits.
Corner Stone
Ok, so he’s 1 for 1000. Still not too good of odds.
Violet
Broder isn’t going to get any love from the teabagger wing of the GOP after this column. He’s shown his true soshulist colors by not wanting her scalp.
4jkb4ia
If only from the little I read here, the discourse was so stupid that even Broder had to notice. David Brooks also had a good column.
kid bitzer
@10–
oh great. so the next time that he trashes obama or progressives, we’ll hear “even the liberal david broder…”.
ppcli
Brooks had a sensible column on this subject this morning as well. And Northwestern is tied with Auburn in the mid-fourth quarter. Clearly this year will be spent in the Bizarro universe.
kommrade reproductive vigor
@kid bitzer: XACTLEE.
You can also expect Broder to spoot out a “Despite X & Y I’m sooo disappointed by the Admin’s decision to Z, that in hindsight my praise for X & Y was misguided,” column in the near future. Hell, he’s probably written the outline and is just waiting to fill in the blanks.
Slugger
How about saying nothing? She should have said,” We are very concerned by this situation and will investigate it fully.”
Next, she should conduct an actual investigation with internal and external resources and issue a report to her superiors. Is not that what organizations trying to do important jobs do?
It would be the job of the superiors to decide what part of the report to release to the public and what parts need to be hush-hush which should be on the basis of security concerns not CYA.
The reporters that need a quote right now should get a thoughtful comment about Tiger Woods or Charlie Sheen.
Am I too naive for the real world?
PhoenixRising
@joe from Lowell: Yeah, it’s destined to remain unrequited love at so many levels…
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I’d be delighted for Janet to become our first lesbian President, for different reasons than David Broder I’m guessing. She’s smart, calm and too old to hear her biological clock. I’m behind her all the way.
Annise Parker has topped out her career as mayor of Houston, largely due to her shift 10 years ago from ‘my private life is none of your beeswax’ to ‘Have you met my not-wife and our adorable daughter?’ Once you have kids, the ‘I have no family life’ closet that Janet occupies comfortably is just too snug. Best of luck to her.
Rhoda
First: Happy New Year, everyone.
Second: Cool to see Broder loves Janet. That means the village isn’t demanding her head for whatever reasons and she’s made friends.
I hope someone gets fired over this shit. But I actually don’t think Napolitano deserves it. If anyone, it should be Blair.
arguingwithsignposts
@PhoenixRising:
Sorry, Napolitano is too law&order for my tastes as a president, whether Lebanese or not. (that last bit is snark, btw)
Senyordave
Why isn’t Peter King on the no-fly list? Sounds like he has given strong support to terrorists in the past. I would not want to share a plane with someone who is a terrorist supporter.
From his Wikipedia page:
A Northern Irish judge ordered King ejected from the former’s courtroom, describing him as “an obvious collaborator with the IRA”.[4] He became involved with NORAID, an organization that the British, Irish and US governments accuse of financing IRA activities and providing them with weapons.[4][6][7][8]
Comrade Jake
I had to laugh. Check out the WaPo opinion page online.
Just below the link to Broder’s column, there is a similar one to Charles Krauthammer’s. The lede? “The administration’s response to terrorism is incompetent and incomprehensible.”
Now, that’s more like it, my friends!
gnomedad
@4jkb4ia:
Yes, I thought so, too. The following quote, though obvious, is noteworthy in a general atmosphere of stoopid:
Senyordave
Just below the link to Broder’s column, there is a similar one to Charles Krauthammer’s. The lede? “The administration’s response to terrorism is incompetent and incomprehensible.”
Doesn’t each administration get a mulligan on the first terrorism attempt? Too bad Bush’s mulligan was 3,000 dead and the WTC destroyed.
Chuckie’s only concern is how terrorism affects Israel, and since the administration isn’t going to attack Iran, he’s pissed.
Brick Oven Bill
Shorter David Broder:
“Janet excels at inactivity.”
Janet is toast.
soonergrunt
Stopped clock, etc…
ppcli
@Senyordave:
Good point. I wonder if Fox News’ line – following their established standards for this sort of thing – will be simply “There have been no terrorist attacks during the Obama administration” or “Obama inherited the crotch-bomber from the Bush administration.”
mcd410x
What Digby said:
Sentient Puddle
Maybe Broder decided to turn over a new leaf for the new decade?
…
Nah, that theory would be only slightly longer-lived than peak wingnut.
Leelee for Obama
You were really very much celebrating last night, weren’t you? This will happen right after I win the PowerBall lottery and get my unicorn from Ireland. I will ride the unicorn to my chosen undisclosed location with my little family and start a commune for all the politically exhausted among us. I’m thinking somewhere in South America-so I don’t need to fly.
debbie
From the transcript, the sentence everyone’s so anxious to distort:
http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/week-transcript-napolitano-gibbs-mcconnell/story?id=9428037&page=2
Dork
Welcome to the United States, circa 2010:
At what point does “abundance” become “stupid, insane, over-abundance”. Wouldn’t “abundance of caution” necesitate that they dont fly any planes anywhere?
The Raven
Ho-ho. I think the right-wing and “centrist” commentariat deserves the Raven’s “Henry A. Kissinger ‘Fighting the Fire I Started'” award for their responses to this bombing. Did they really think the fear they have spread for the last eight years would not have consequences beyond the immediate political situation?
Pococurante
Maybe Broder had a groundhog day moment reading Richard Landes this morning and is going all parrhesia on us.
Joe Buck
I’m not surprised. Broder is a defender of the establishment, the Village, and how things work. DHS and the TSA is the same lame bureaucracy under Obama as it was under Bush, so I’m sure Broder’s happy with it.
AmericanJoe
Joe Lieberman is more motivated by principle over naked pettiness and pique than David Broder is.
He likes her, so, she’s alright.
I don’t think Janet Napolitano should be scapegoated by the far-Right and the ready-to-poop-their-diapers-in-terrified-tandem stenographers in the Village either, but Broder is making a civility-meta and wise third-wayer driven argument as if that is the same thing as fiercely defending her competence and on-the-job performance.
He was just as focused on her being opposed from the Left in her primary fight back in Arizona as he was on her being able to do her job competently.
So what? She’s not being attacked as a dirty frickin’ hippy by Lanny Davis or Al From, she’s being attacked by the Bill Kristol crowd as a bungling incompetent.
This is not a compelling competency argument, which is what the woman needs to keep her job by her supporters, this is a transparently naked ‘I like her, she’s a buddy of mine’ defense.
Hovering beside a scathingly acidic piece by Fred Hiatt or plopped on top of a noxious Charles Krauthammer screed in print no doubt.
The Great Gazoo of the Village should stick to lecturing and praising Evan Bayh for never having spent more than 20 bucks on a haircut or longing for the days of Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neil swaying and singing old Irish songs arm in arm with glasses of green beer held on high after a policy fight.
In defense of a person he admires against the far Right, he’s like a loose pillow fort as the first line defense against an oncoming hurricane.
AhabTRuler
I’m sure that in his own mind, Broder sees himself as a loyal-opposition contrarian, reserving the right to engage in what he sees as constructive criticism from a middle-of-the-road, middle-class, mid-western perspective; he would never question the underlying assumptions of his own comfortable position. He is a walking, talking, living, and, unfortunately, still breathing Avatar of the No True Scotsman fallacy. The most infuriating aspect of Broder and many of the other professional opinion writers (I’m looking at you, Krauthammer) is that they never have to take any accountability for their positions.
Yutsano
Broder has a thing for lesbyterians. Whowouldathunkit?
Chuck Butcher
I guess it pays to be friendly to Broder. In a rational sphere I’d credit him with a reasoned response…oh well.
licensed to kill time
Happy New Year Everyone! Yes, I know you are all watching the football. In a spirit of public service, I post this link to a Joan Acocella article about hangovers from The New Yorker.
It’s an oldie but goodie.
slippy
It would be a real long shot to imagine that Broder is even faintly aware of how much ridicule and mockery he receives from his blogger critics, and that self-awareness has caused him to honestly appraise his response to this crisis.
A real long shot. Because the number of people who vocally criticize him is just the tip of the iceberg and I’m sure thousands of NYT readers see his drivel and dismiss it as such.
I’m sure he’ll be back to form tomorrow and this is just some aberration that has a cause totally rooted in the cocktail party circuit.
Leelee for Obama
@slippy: You are a charter member of the Cynics Support Group? Why haven’t we met? Or perhaps we have.
slag
Very true. I don’t know what to make of this. Broder’s appreciation for Napolitano can’t possibly be substantive since he doesn’t do substantive. Really, it is a mystery.
CalD
Broken clocks…
DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio
Not ususally a fan of Broder here, but his summary of Janet Napolitano is right on the money. Those of us who have known her here in Arizona will find his picture of her to be right on the money.
Good job by Broder, and good find for our blog.
There’s a reason why righties really hate Janet. It’s because she puts the lie to their biggest talking point, which is that government can’t do things right. Janet is all about not just talking about doing things right, but knowing how to do them right and then actually doing them. Skills that are kryptonite to every right wing liar.
DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio
@gnomedad:
That blurb you cited, about some terrorists getting through, is not only right on the money, we said it here the other day.
It isn’t unlike the position the FAA is in. No matter what they do, some accidents are going to happen. Some things are going to fall through the cracks. In some cases, literally.
But the point is that perfect security in the air travel world is not even a remote possiblity. Pretending that it is, is a lie, told by lying children, to other children. I pointed to literature that described several hundred million passenger boardings per year worldwide. Even with a miniscule failure rate, enough security failures can happen to keep everyone pretty edgy most of the time. That’s just a fact. If you are running a system that addresses that, the first thing you need is a good actuary.
Can you picture a Republican talking to an actuary? Only for the lolz.
kay
I think a former governor and AG is probably a good fit for that job, and it’s ridiculous to fire her for a single sentence taken out of context.
The teabaggers have been gunning for her for months. I think that’s probably why the GOP went all in. They have to keep the loonies happy.
Waynski
“refusing to speculate”
How irresponsible.
r€nato
Having seen Napolitano in action here in Arizona…
she’s one tough and very savvy cookie.
That’s why the righties hate her.
Anne Laurie
@r€nato:
Well, she’s no Joe Arpaio, is she? Knawwuddimean?
r€nato
@Anne Laurie:
Anne, I kinda know what you mean… I feel like I am missing the point, but just to make things clear, she did make an alliance with Joe Arpaio while she was governor. I don’t like it one bit, but it may have been the politically savvy thing to do to keep this guy off her back. He is currently pursuing an extraordinarily vindictive campaign against the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, and he has a long history of pursuing vendettas for the smallest of slights. For instance, a local actor starred in commercials for an electoral opponent of Arpaio’s. The following year, the actor (Nick Tarr) dressed up as a sheriff’s deputy for Halloween, and Arpaio had his goons arrest the guy for impersonating a law enforcement officer.
This is hardly an isolated incident. There is apparently nothing that will get rid of Arpaio, short of the voters coming to their senses, federal charges, or death.
Janet also, to be perfectly blunt about it, ditched the state just when it was about to face an enormous budget crisis. One way to look at that would be to say it was cowardly (kind of like making alliance with Arpaio to keep him off her back). Another way to look at it would be to say it was very savvy, as it threw the budget mess – the definition of a ‘no-win’ situation if there ever was one – squarely in the GOP’s lap, what with the Republicans controlling the Legislature and a Republican being next in line of succession to the governor’s chair.
Sometimes in life you gotta pick your fights. I find it hard to blame Janet for refusing to pick a fight with Arpaio, a fight that the governor of Arizona is powerless to win.
r€nato
@DonBelacquaDelPurgatorio:
I owe you a Coke. Two of them for not bothering to read comments before posting.