When That Soothing Isolated Extremist Narrative Doesn't Work

Talk tough.

It took Obama three days to make a statement on the “alleged suspect” and lone terrorist.

And, it took him a week to tie the Detroit underwear bomber to Al-Qaeda… And, this was after the Saudis warned his staff about Al-Qaeda underwear bombers back in October.

The loads of information coming in now proves that Obama's preferred talking point, that the bloomer bomber was an isolated incident and not part of a wider plot, is falling apart.

But of course, there is the fall back position when it all goes wrong: It's all Bush's fault.

In Hawaii, where Obama was holidaying, Gibbs's deputy Bill Burton told the press that "we are winding down a war in Iraq that took our eye off of the terrorists that attacked us" and that Obama was reviewing "procedures that have been in place the last several years" (i.e. Bush instituted them). He added, without apparent irony, that "the President refuses to play politics with these issues".