By David K. Shipler
Perhaps the
most salient element in President Obama’s speech on national security last week
was his attempt to begin weaning the United States from its post-9/11 mindset. If
he pursues the effort and revises policy accordingly, he might help the country
move away from fear and back toward the constitutional principles that have
been sacrificed unnecessarily. This would end an era that is begging to be left
behind.
But his
record has not been encouraging, and the environment he faces is not helpful. The
problem is a mixture of reality and beliefs. Fear has to abate, but it won’t
when real terrorism maims and kills at a Boston Marathon, or when the word “terrorism”
is applied too broadly, as Republicans and some conservative pundits demand. Hardly
anyone is comforted to learn, as Obama explained, that the threats now come from
atomized al-Qaeda offshoots and radicalized individuals, rather than by
centralized direction.
Yes, as he noted, that looks more like
the baseline of terrorism the world has endured since long before 9/11. But it
is not enough for Obama to say so. As he may have learned from earlier attempts
to change emotional dynamics through speechmaking, actions speak louder than
words. His well-crafted 2009 Cairo speech extending an open hand to the Muslim
world was not followed by intensive, inventive policy. Four years later, on the
other hand, his recent address in Jerusalem on Israeli-Palestinian peace is
being followed by Secretary of State John Kerry’s shuttle diplomacy—a good
effort whose outcome is not yet clear.
So let’s see if Obama follows his
words on national security. He might consider how his administration’s behavior
contributes to the problem of belief—namely, the public’s belief that we are still
in the war whose end he now wishes to declare.
