OH PLEASE – AT 8:23 A.M. ET:  Leave it to Dick Lugar, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to make mush of almost anything, and to define traditional, lax, go-along Republicanism.  It's hard to believe this one:

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Richard Lugar, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called President Barack Obama’s handling of recent terrorism threats “strong,” disputing former Vice President Dick Cheney’s criticism.

“It’s unfair,” Lugar said in an interview for Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing this weekend. “I think the president is focused.”

Cheney, who frequently has led Republican attacks on the Democratic president since leaving office a year ago, told Politico on Dec. 29 that Obama “is trying to pretend we are not at war” with a “low-key response” to the Dec. 25 attempt to ignite a bomb aboard a flight to Detroit.

To the contrary, Obama has demonstrated “firmness” and “decisiveness,” Lugar, who represents Indiana, said. “That’s been the antidote to the criticism.”

Lugar, a perfectly honorable guy in other respects, is one of those senators who wants to appear the statesman, the international figure, the man above the masses.  But Cheney is right, and Lugar is wrong, and Lugar has diminished himself. 

Another one who's right is John McCain, who continues to distinguish himself on national-security issues, and has shown what the term "loyal opposition" is all about.  McCain nails Obama on terrorism, and does the truth-telling that Lugar refuses to do:

Sen. John McCain said Sunday that President Obama's tougher talk about fighting terrorism after the attempted Christmas airline bombing does not match his decision to try the bomber in civilian court.

"That person should be tried as an enemy combatant, he's a terrorist," Mr. McCain said. "And if we are at war, then we certainly should not be trying that individual in a court other than a military trial."

He said Mr. Obama should not allow terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, to get "lawyered up" for his day in court instead of handing him to intelligence officials to extract vital information.

"To have a person be able to get lawyered up when we need that information very badly, I think betrays or contradicts the president's view that we are at war," Mr. McCain said on CNN's "State of the Union."

And that is why John McCain should have been president.  Many of us were ridiculed for favoring McCain over the demigod Obama.  Considering Obama's record so far, we have nothing to be ashamed about.

January 11, 2010