WASHINGTON — As the White House portrays the dramatic scene, President Barack Obama summoned his national security team to the Situation Room for a lecture about accountability after the failed terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound airliner.
"This was a screw-up that could have been disastrous," the commander in chief said.
The White House took the uncommon step of releasing that this-will-not-stand quote from a room where the secrecy usually is fiercely protected. Obama went on to say, according to the distributed account: "We dodged a bullet, but just barely. ... While there will be a tendency for finger-pointing, I will not tolerate it."
Tough language, but where will it lead?
Words are not enough. What people want is action.
Five times now since a man linked to al-Qaida allegedly tried to blow up the Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day, Obama has updated the nation. His message is one of a president determined for people to see he is in charge, demanding results and willing to call out his own government's flaws.
All this comes after some grumbles about a slow initial response on the part of Obama, who was in Hawaii on vacation and first spoke about the incident three days after it happened.
As the days pass, Obama's window for unilateral action narrows. At least three Senate committees plan hearings on the security scare later this month.
Read more from the Huffington Post.
The Democratic Party is fearing the political tidal wave of anger from supporters and critics. Right now, Republicans feel the momentum of the tea party protests, the resentment of government spending and the economic woes as a ticket to victory.
