On Christmas day, a terrorist came perilously close to successfully staging an attack within the US. The administration has set out to carefully review how this attempt could have taken place, with the President vowing to strengthen the system protecting Americans and to hold his administration accountable for its mistakes. Within a day, conservatives had begun discussing preventive war on Yemen, confidently asserting that Obama's policies had caused the attack, and using the incident for fundraising purposes.  For the sake of Americans' security, conservatives should abandon these dangerous tactics, and take up the administration's call for unity in countering the terrorist threat. 

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Upon returning from Moscow, the G-8 summit, and Africa, President Obama – and almost anyone closely following the trip – will be surprised to learn from conservatives that nothing was accomplished. At the G-8, leading economic powers made new commitments on food aid for the world’s poorest and manifested a new unity against Iran’s repression at home and nuclear ambitions abroad – both achievements showcasing US diplomacy and Obama’s personal leadership. The formulaic nature of conservative criticism in response was perhaps best summed up by Oliver North in an op-ed in the Washington Times, which said that “the trip to Chad... produced no serious risks to our future.” Obama’s trip to Chad did produce little – because he never went to Chad.

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In an eventful foreign policy week, a bipartisan consensus has quietly emerged and held steady On Iran, there has been a near consensus among Iranian experts, serious foreign policy scholars and Republican political and policy leaders -- favoring measured statements that focus on demonstrators’ rights but emphasize Iran’s sovereignty. Meanwhile, the war supplemental funding bill passed 91-5 in the Senate, including groundbreaking new funding for the IMF’s response to the economic crisis, as well as payment of UN arrears and changes to the defense budget. Instead, it was clear that this group of conservatives was taking stands on sensitive international issues with only one thought in mind:  too oppose Obama.

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