Would-be Bomber Fallout Piles Up

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd pointed out in her Wednesday column the incongruity of a President Obama's technological savvy and his inability to prod agencies to move out of the past:

President Obama's favorite word is "unprecedented," as Carol Lee of Politico pointed out. Yet he often seems mired in the past as well, letting his hallmark legislation get loaded up with old-school bribes and pork; surrounding himself with Clintonites; continuing the Bushies' penchant for secrecy and expansive executive privilege; doubling down in Afghanistan while acting as though he's getting out; and failing to capitalize on snazzy new technology while agencies thumb through printouts and continue their old turf battles.

She also called into question the Transportation Security Administration's inability to use technology to stop the alleged bomber (". . . travelers could see we had made no progress toward a technologically wondrous Philip K. Dick universe") and the House for trying to stop the use of full body scans ("We are headed toward the moment when screeners will watch watch-listers sashay through while we have to come to the airport in hospital gowns, flapping open in the back.)

Expect more heat from Republicans. Could more investments in technology at security checkpoints be in the cards for TSA's fiscal 2011 budget?