[Malveaux:] Former Vice President Dick Cheney is blasting the president for his response to the failed terror attack. He says it's proof that Mr. Obama is "trying to pretend we're not at war." Joining me now for today's "Strategy Session" are Democratic strategist and CNN political contributor, James Carville, and RedState.com's Eric Erickson. First of all, thank you so much for joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM. I want to show you this is what former Vice President Dick Cheney had to say, claiming that the president is trying to pretend that we're not at war. This is a statement he released, saying, "As I've watched the events of the last few days, it is clear once again that President Obama is trying to pretend we are not at war. He seems to think that if he has a low-key response to an attempt to blow up an airliner and kill hundreds of people, we won't be at war." Eric, I want to start off with you. Do you people are listening to the former vice president and what he is saying? Does he have any impact when he brings this up?
[Eric Erickson, Redstate.com:] You know, I think he does. And if you need proof of it, just consider that Barack Obama has, in three separate occasions, the latest being the West Point speech, sought to specifically address the criticisms that Dick Cheney raised. I mean, if the president feels concerned enough to have to counter Dick Cheney's speeches, then he must be concerned. And I think the public is probably listening.
[Malveaux:] Why do you suppose you think he's concerned, James? I mean, it seems to me as if he has a different approach altogether.
[James Carville, Cnn Political Contributor:] Right. I don't know that he's concerned. And one can only hope that he doesn't do what the vice president did and haul off and invade the wrong country. I mean, that's one thing we don't need to do, is start a war with the wrong people. I think he's very cognizant of that. I think that what he's trying to do and what I want him to do is find out what the systemic breakdown was. I fly a lot, and I'm kind of freaked out by this, too. And I want to know what broke down, why it broke down, and not the sort of ineffective, almost ridiculous attacks. I mean, the president came out there and said it was a systemic breakdown. We're going to try to find out what went wrong. By the way, he spent months trying to figure out what to do about Afghanistan. I'm sure he's acutely aware that this country's at war.
[Malveaux:] But the president did actually respond to Cheney. We have a statement that was just released from the White House communications director. I'm going to read just a part of it here, the main focus. He says, "To put it simply, this president is not interested in bellicose rhetoric. He is focused on action." He goes on to say that "... the former vice president makes the clearly untrue claim that the president, who is the nation's commander-in-chief, needs to realize that we are at war." And he says, "I don't think anyone realizes this very hard reality more than President Obama," who obviously has a lot of tough choices here. Is this just more of the same kind of campaign from the Republicans, Eric, to try to paint this administration and Democrats going into the midterm elections as weak on terror, weak on security?
[Erickson:] You know, I don't think it's a campaign. I think it's the reality. The Obama administration seems to be very good at running a political campaign and very bad at actually running policy. This is a repeated thing. You know, the president doesn't even want to talk about the "war on terror." They're not allowed to use that phrase. The homeland security chief, who is wholly unqualified for her job, won't even say "terrorism." She calls it manmade incidents.
[Malveaux:] Eric, what does it matter if you know, I speak with senior administration officials what it's called, per se? The language or the words here, if approach is deliberate?
[Erickson:] Well, if you're not willing to call terror "terror" and evil "evil," then what are you willing to call things? Some things are black and white.
[Malveaux:] That was the main criticism against the Bush administration.
[Erickson:] I think the criticism was that they saw things in black and white. I think they were realistic, and Barack Obama lives in the ivory tower still. He never got out of academia.
[Malveaux:] James, do you want to respond to that?
[Carville:] Yes. I'm a little flummoxed here, but one thing that we can sure hope and pray for, and that is that they don't haul off and invade the wrong country. And I think if they keep themselves focused here, and try to and deal with this, find out where the breakdown was, and not worry about whether labor unions are causing this you know, you go on a construction site, I'm not worried about a carpenter blowing me up. But I do think that if our embassy gets notification of somebody, I want to find out where this broke down. And I think the Republicans ought to be calling for, as are the Democrats. There was a systemic breakdown here. And why did it happen and who's at fault?
[Malveaux:] The president has asked for that, and he's asked for it in short order. Obviously, there are members of his homeland security team that are going to be getting back to him tomorrow with preliminary findings here. There are some who believe that the setting is all wrong, that the visual is all wrong. There's an op-ed in "The Washington Post" today. It says that "... there's something unsettling about the president not wanting to interrupt his plans to deal with what appears to be the most serious threat to the nation's safety since 911. Returning to Washington would have sent the world a powerful message of a president willing to drop everything and roll up his sleeves someone who really means business." Does it matter if he's conducting business from Hawaii, where he has all the tools, equipment he needs, or does he need to go back to the White House to convey a sense of seriousness about the issue?
[Carville:] Well, I don't know what go ahead, Eric. I apologize.
[Erickson:] No, I was just going to say, you know, Barack Obama never once criticized George Bush for being on vacation during his eight years, and I don't think anyone should do the same for Barack Obama. He is the president of the United States. The White House goes with him. He doesn't have to be in a specific building. And frankly, I don't think it is a criticism that needs to be raised. This man is still the president, and, I mean, he can hop aboard Air Force One if he needs to. The Democrats criticized George Bush for not flying back to Washington on 911 and for being on vacation at several times, but he got the job done.
[Malveaux:] Does it matter I mean, President Bush, he got that criticism. I spoke with someone who's friendly with the Obama administration and warned them and said, look, you know, if you don't go back to the White House when you have this initial report that comes before you, if we see reporters with palm trees in the back, it is going to be the equivalent of George W. Bush's Air Force One tipping its wing over the Katrina victims. Do you think that is a fair assessment of the risks he takes when he receives that report tomorrow and how
[Carville:] Of course not. Of course not. And he's from Hawaii. It wasn't like it wasn't an issue in the campaign. He is vacationing in his home state. He grew up there. He went to high school there. He obviously his mother died there. He loves the place, and he has I agree he has a right to take a vacation. And there are palm trees in Hawaii. There's nothing he can do about that. And as long as he understands that there was a breakdown and as somebody that flies a lot and as somebody who's concerned about this, what happened in Nigeria? What happened in the embassy? What happened in Yemen? What happened in Amsterdam? How can we make this safer? If he's getting those answers, that's fine. He can be in Hawaii, he can be in Washington.
[Malveaux:] We know that Dennis McDonough, the chief of staff to the NSC, gave a briefing yesterday in Hawaii making that point, saying that the president is being briefed at least five times a day from the Situation Room, from others. He's got his briefers there with him, so, clearly, they're very much aware of how this looks, the potential criticism, and they are obviously making the case that the president is in fact on top of all of this from his vacationing home. Thank you very much, James, Eric. Appreciate it.
[Erickson:] Thank you.
[Carville:] Thank you.
[Malveaux:] Well, running the country isn't a popularity contest, but it may be a good thing for the president when he sees our new CNN poll. And he's been called the bin Laden of the Internet. We're investigating possible links between a radical cleric in Yemen and the man accused of trying to bomb Northwest Flight 253.