What if Al Qaeda Attacks Before the Election? 

What if Al Qaeda Attacks Before the Election?

The conventional wisdom among the chattering classes has been that if the US suffers another attack on our soil between now and the election it would benefit George Bush. This is based, I think, on the belief that under those circumstances the American people will rally around their leader, feckless as he may be. I admit that this has been my fear up until now.

Now, though, I'm not so sure. John Kerry last Thursday and John Edwards last night both repeatedly hit upon the fact that Osama bin Laden is free today because the Bush administration turned its focus away to Iraq when it should have remained concentrated on capturing or killing bin Laden. Now, if Al Qaeda strikes again on our soil before the election, it will be clear to voters that he was free to do so because of the failure of the Bush administration to put an appropriate amount of emphasis on neutralizing him. It's not about, as the Bush people would like you to believe, who bin Laden would rather have win the election. It's about who has botched the job of making America safer.