Presidential Dèja Vu

The attempted bombing that took place Christmas day on a U.S.-bound plane has an all too familiar feeling.

Increasingly niggling inspections endured at airports by Americans and other passengers, endless lists of potential suspects (including the name of the young Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab); millions of digital fingerprints collected by U.S. security agencies … All this does nothing. Even the collaboration of the young “jihadist’s” own father was not enough.

Having only to employ a simple cutter, nestled in a belt, in the soles of shoes or in toothpaste tubes, the inventiveness of potential terrorists will always keep them one step ahead.

However, this feeling is amplified in the great theater of geopolitical relations. By deciding, after months of hesitation, to send tens of thousands of U.S. troops to Afghanistan, President Barack Obama’s intentions were perfectly clear. The mismatch between words and actions was obvious: It was to justify the reinforcement of the eight-year-old fight against the “enemies of America,” who are nestled in the mountains of Afghanistan.

But it is Pakistan that seemed so much more central in the president’s speech. Beyond that, other countries were pointed out: Somalia, in a state of deep decay; and on the other side of the Gulf of Aden, Yemen, al-Qaida’s new home base, in which the young pretender to the holy war obtained explosive materials and instructions for their use.

Today, it is easy for Republicans to accuse the new president of not taking the threat of terrorism seriously. Both the current system of airport security and the long, solitary decline of Yemen are partly caused by decisions of the Bush administration. But even the White House’s denunciation of this “hypocrisy” does nothing. If he wants to survive politically, Barack Obama will have to flex his muscles to face the accusations.

By turning the page on the Bush years, the majority of Americans thought they had given the world a pledge of reconciliation. But as al-Qaida continues to send its suicide bombers, the U.S. now considers any conciliatory attitude as an unbearable sign of weakness.