Democrats’ Achilles heel exposed

            A senior Democrat in Washington just told me that “The White House and the Democrat leadership on the Hill are in a full-blown meltdown because their Achilles Heel which they thought was now permanently armored and protected, is once again dangerously exposed to attack.”  The “Achilles Heel” to which he refers being the freshly retread charge that, “Liberals are weak on terrorism and national security.”

            The catalyst for this alleged “meltdown” being the — but for the intervention of fellow-passengers — “successful” Christmas day terrorist attack carried out by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.  That the White House and the Democrat leadership fear the retread charge is once again sticking, there can be no doubt.  One need look no further than the full-court press they have employed in the guise of John Brennan, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.

            Be it national television or newspaper columns, Mr. Brennan has been figuratively screaming at the top of his lungs that, “We Democrats are not weak on terrorism and national security and you mean Republicans better stop trying to score cheap political points off the subject.”  As one who has done communications and defense work for our government in the past, I have three immediate problems with this White House orchestrated effort.

            The first being, with this very loud, public, and continuing push-back against a Republican charge the Democrats thought they had vanquished, Mr. Brennan and the White House are inviting a welcome counterattack by the Republicans which will not only escalate the fight, but push it more into the sights of the American electorate.  No surprise that Republican Members Pete Hoekstra and Kit Bond have called on Brennan to resign.  The GOP Members and conservative talk shows being most fired up by Brennan’s line that “Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of Al-Qaeda.”

            Second.  With such language, Brennan himself is trying to score cheap “political points.”  As far as the majority of the American people are concerned, Mr. Brennan’s job is to protect our nation from terrorism and not demean his position by talking on the partisan role of public relations hack for the White House or Democrat leaders in Congress.

            Third.  The American people are not stupid.  In fact, they are quite smart and becoming much more politically attuned by the day.  They understand that in an environment where their elected “leaders” often put self and party before country, their very survival may depend upon them paying more attention to the process.  As such, they know that lipstick is being heavily applied to the pig with regard to the Christmas Day terrorist.

            In a national column, Mr. Brennan referred to it as the “failed Christmas Day attack.”  Not only was his terminology an insult to whoever read the piece, but a severe misreading of the intelligence and awareness of the American people.  They know full-well that the only thing that “failed” that day was our national security.  Period.  And had it not been for the heroism of the passengers on Northwest flight 253, almost 300 people on the flight would have been murdered plus an unknown number on the ground in Detroit.

            The American people also know that CIA director Leon Panetta, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, and FBI Director Robert Mueller — President Obama’s own team — just said that the likelihood of a terrorist attack on the United States homeland in the next three to six months is “certain.”

            “Certain.”  With that horrific prediction in mind, I’m fairly certain that the American people would really appreciate it if our elected officials from both sides of the aisle, as well as our Intelligence “professionals,” would actually crawl out of the sandbox immediately, stop pointing fingers, and figure out — as fellow citizens at risk — how to stop this and the future attacks surely to come.

            National security is not a partisan talking point.  It is our right and those we pay to lead and protect better figure that out before “certain” becomes a tragic reality.

MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official and a novelist.