Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The politics of enforcement

The idea behind the creation of Homeland Security was to cut through the politics so government agencies would work together for our safety.

Well, that hasn't ever worked, and Janet Napolitano has guaranteed more of the same.

She made the rounds on Sunday with the old cop message, "There's nothing to see here, folks. Move along."

Surely there was some noodling at the White House about what do to since millions of Americans were on airplanes for the holidays. And J-Nap was sent out to assure us it is safe to fly.

But even Obama's media pals didn't buy her explanation that "the system worked." And as reporters dug for background on the terrorist, it became clear that, once again, Homeland Security was asleep at the switch.

So she backpedaled on her statement the next day and even Obama himself came on the air to assure us that he would take action.

It is all just proof once more that Homeland Security is about making us think we are safe when recent events (like Ft Hood and two flights into Detroit) would indicate that enforcement is more dysfunctional than ever.