(Thumbnail image: The White House)

As the investigation into the attempted Christmas Day bombing continues, President Barack Obama is taking fire.  Critics are looking at his response to the incident, and his administration’s policies that they say led to the attack.

We’re looking at perspectives from NBC News, CNN, FOX News, and MSNBC.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney was quick to criticize the president after Mr. Obama’s response to the Christmas Day bombing attempt.  FOX News airs this part of Cheney’s statement.

“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 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, but we are at war and when President Obama pretends we aren’t, it makes us less safe.”

Cheney’s indictment of the president has brought responses from the media, and also the White House.  Chuck Todd summarizes the administration’s response on NBC News.

“The president just made a decision 30,000 U.S. troops to a war zone.  That he in his Oslo speech, accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, talked about the fact that the United States is currently at war.  Has OK’ed hits against al Qaeda targets in Yemen.  So, they think the factual hit by Cheney is absurd, but at the same time they do know that it does carry some political weight.” 

CNN talks to the former chairman of the National Commission on Terrorism, who criticizes the Obama administration’s policy of treating terrorists as criminals.

“I think when this fellow was subdued on Christmas Day, the very first and top priority should have been, and continues to be, to interrogate him, to get as much information as possible.  Because the role of this, the goal is not to bring him to justice, the goal is to prevent future attacks, and it’s not surprising that as soon as he got himself a lawyer he stopped talking.”

A reporter for The Wall Street Journal says that Mr. Obama’s focus on being politically correct is hurting U.S. national security.

“But the Obama administration couldn’t tell us that al Qaeda was now using Yemen as a base. Why? Because 90 of the GITMO detainees were going to be transferred there.  Now, luckily that plan is now off the boards, but can you imagine ignoring Yemen for polical correct reasons cause you had to close Guantanamo? This is allowing politics to interfere with legitimate national security.  We have got to end political correctness as Andrew says, and we have got to move towards a national security model.”

But on MSNBC Joan Walsh, editor of Salon Magazine, tells Republican critics to stop seizing every little opportunity to take down the president.

“The climate right now is that Republicans use everything they can to undermine and delegitimize this president.  And it’s actually un-American.  It’s traitorous in my opinion.  Do you want to give aid and comfort to our enemies?  Then continue to treat this president like he wasn’t elected and he doesn’t know what he’s doing.  He knows what he did, he knows what he’s doing, I’m proud of him.  I believe that he has the stalwart, resolute nature to get this done.”

So what’s your take?  Is Obama taking the right approach to national security?

Writer: Lee Morehouse