Obama and the Definition of a War President

Health care, what? Seven days into 2010, and the issue that's dominated President Obama's December agenda has been replaced by those two words that made the past decade so...well, memorable. "National security." From Nigerian plane travelers to al Qaeda in Yemen, the last two weeks have been dominated by stories about intelligence gaps and ridiculous lines at airports.

Deja vu? Well, to paraphrase jazz singer Norah Jones, the first week of January has people feeling the same way all over again, at least when it comes to the U.S. and terror. And while there's almost no hesitancy among historians in characterizing President George W. Bush as a war President, there's a real sense of wonder over whether President Obama will wear the moniker, too.

Sure sounds like The Economist thinks he will. They note that in the wake of the Christmas Day bombing attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Obama has markedly changed his tone on national security, visibly getting angry at a meeting with his national security personnel and beefing up a host of counter-terrorism policies. "No Fly" lists have been expanded. Passengers from 14 countries now face extra security at airports. And no more prisoners are heading from Guantánamo back to Yemen.

Specific policies are one thing, but so, too, is rhetoric. And in that regard, a host of folks are saying that the last two weeks have presented a President Obama that sounds less like the Obama of 2009, and more like the George W. Bush of 2004. Among them are NPR's Ari Shapiro, who notes that while the Obama administration did break from some Bush administration policies, counter-terrorism during the age of Obama certainly doesn't feel all that different from counter-terrorism under Bush.

"Since the attempted bombing of an airplane on Christmas, the Obama administration's public statements have done more to emphasize similarities with the Bush administration," Shapiro says.

A coincidence? Probably not. One way of handling criticism from the right -- from which Obama has received a lot -- is to point out that current policies don't differ all that much from previous administrations.

But while the Obama administration carves out its national security policy, both in the wake of a seemingly escalated War on Terror and continued violence around the globe (take the suicide bombing of a C.I.A. outpost in Afghanistan last week, as an example), the President is going to have to figure out what his legacy will be on issues of war and peace.

Is he a leader that changed courses after eight years of a certified war president? Or is he just an extension of those years?

Photo: The U.S. Army