Passing the buck ain't working for our rookie President

As Scooby Doo would say, "Ruh Roh!"

Our rookie President is learning he's playing a game with the big boys now when he unwisely decided to point the finger of blame at the CIA for letting the underwear bomber onto a jet bound for the heartland of the U.S. of A.

Lo and behold, somehow Newsweek reports some actual news for a change instead of another verse of their usual "Obama Is So Great and Wonderful!" chorus. Wonder who leaked the news to Newsweek that Obama was briefed about a planned terrorist attack on America three days BEFORE Christmas?

President Barack Obama received a high-level briefing only three days before Christmas about possible holiday-period terrorist threats against the US, Newsweek has learned. The briefing was centered on a written report, produced by US intelligence agencies, entitled "Key Homeland Threats", a senior US official said.

As usual, Sir Charles Krauthammer sums up this absurd drama far better than I can.

WASHINGTON -- Janet Napolitano -- former Arizona governor, now overmatched secretary of homeland security -- will forever be remembered for having said of the attempt to bring down an airliner over Detroit: "The system worked." The attacker's concerned father had warned U.S. authorities about his son's jihadist tendencies. The would-be bomber paid cash and checked no luggage on a transoceanic flight. He was nonetheless allowed to fly, and would have killed 288 people in the air alone, save for a faulty detonator and quick actions by a few passengers.

Heck of a job, Brownie.

The reason the country is uneasy about the Obama administration's response to this attack is a distinct sense of not just incompetence but incomprehension. From the very beginning, President Obama has relentlessly tried to downplay and deny the nature of the terrorist threat we continue to face. Napolitano renames terrorism "man-caused disasters." Obama goes abroad and pledges to cleanse America of its post-9/11 counterterrorist sins. Hence, Guantanamo will close, CIA interrogators will face a special prosecutor, and Khalid Sheik Mohammed will bask in a civilian trial in New York -- a trifecta of political correctness and image management.

As Hannibal Smith used to say, I love it when a plan comes together. Or to paraphrase that, give a fool enough rope and eventually he will hang himself. The buck no longer stops at the White House because there's a rookie sitting in the hot seat who has not a clue what to do next.