Angry in the Great White North

Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, has proven herself to be unfit for the job, displaying ignorance of the most basic facts concerning one of the most serious threats facing the United States, as summarized in this widely read editorial from the National Post:

Can someone please tell us how U. S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano got her job? She appears to be about as knowledgeable about border issues as a late-night radio call-in yahoo.

Informed of her error [in claiming that the 9/11 terrorists slipped in the United States via Canada], Ms. Napolitano blustered: "I can't talk to that. I can talk about the future. And here's the future. The future is we have borders."

Just what does that mean, exactly?

This is one of those editorials that makes me proud to be associated with the National Post.

The National Review is one of many American media outlets that is giving the National Post editorial much deserved exposure to an American audience:

Just let it sink in for a moment that the Obama administration's No. 1 honcho at Homeland Security does not know from where the 9/11 hijackers came. Having an IRS boss who doesn't pay his taxes is galling, but this is worse than an annoyance - it's a danger, and it makes us look like fools. Surely President Obama can do better than this. Surely America can do better than this.

The National Review poses two questions, and they are at odds with one another.  Can America do better than Janet Napolitano as DHS Secretary?  Obviously so.  Indeed, it is hard to imagine doing much worse.  But can President Barack Obama do better?  I doubt it.  It's just not in him.  He lacks the substance.

That Janet Napolitano is unsuited for the job is an indictment of President Barack Obama's ability to manage government.  When it comes Barack Obama, you are left wondering if he actually knows anything.  That sense of profound ignorance masked by catchy (and meaningless) phrases that sound like they've been lifted from a child's television program ("Yes we can!") is reflected in the ignorance of the people who work for him.  Janet Napolitano's policy is that precious resources ought to be spent on the US-Canada border based on the absurd idea that Canadians just stroll across the border at a whim:

Napolitano wants what she calls a "real border," which she apparently believes it is not now the case. "I know that the pattern at the Canadian border has been informality," she said in the CBC interview.

I cross that border two or three times a month.  There is nothing informal about it.

The woman's ignorance is mindboggling.  Worse, it is dangerous.  There are real threats to the US, and yes, some of them originate in Canada (though the changes to immigration laws brought in by the Conservatives and opposed with no effect by Stephane Dion's Liberals will help), but who would trust Janet Napolitano to recognize them, and then direct the vast resources of the DHS to effectively counter those threats?

I know one person who would trust her, and that is President Barack Obama, who is proving himself to be a lightweight of the worst kind.  A grinning fool who substitutes platitudinous teleprompter-delivered charisma for intelligence, and who lacks the sense or dumb luck to surround himself with smart people who can compensate for his own shortfalls.  Instead Barack Obama amplifies his own failings through ignorant sycophants, distributing important roles on the basis of favours owed instead of skill or aptitude.

A true leader knows that the people who help put you in power are not likely to be the same people who help you once you're in power.  It can be tough to tell those people in that first group that they aren't going to be in the second group.  But Barack Obama doesn't strike me as the kind of leader who does tough well.

America can't do better than the likes of Janet Napolitano unless Barack Obama can do better himself.  So don't hold your breath.

More of the same:  We don't often get this much coverage south of the border.  Here is a small sample, that will likely grow:

• Michelle Malkin: Janet Napolitano screws up again
• Roaring Republican: Napolitano blames Canada for 9/11
• American Outrage: You Would Think The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Would Have Her Facts Correct.