Terrorism alerts 'no-win' for Bush

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A country on "orange alert" is a no-win political situation for President Bush, who can't take credit for the absence of terrorist attacks and must watch Democrats running for president argue that all his efforts to thwart domestic carnage are doomed to fail.

Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor and front-runner for the Democratic nomination, mused last week that the heightened alert during the holidays is proof that the United States is still vulnerable to attack.

"If we are safer, how come we lost 10 more troops and raised the safety alert?" Mr. Dean asked a crowd of supporters, adding that the Bush administration is "not only a failure, but the most dangerous administration in my lifetime."

At Sunday's Democratic presidential debate, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts said that Bush has "run an ineffective war on terror," and he has mocked the president for raising the threat level to orange, or "heightened" alert.

"When the threat of terrorism is increasing, I'll do more than simply issue an orange alert," Mr. Kerry said on Dec. 22. "As president, I'll make sure that towns and cities don't have to bear all the burdens of increasing security."

Steven Hess, presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution, said that when it comes to the politics of terror alerts, Mr. Bush has little choice but to let the debate be largely one-sided in favor of the Democrats.

The president can't boast too much about protecting the U.S. from terror attacks, he said, because that argument could be violently refuted at any moment.

"That's the balance between being an incumbent and a challenger," Mr. Hess said. "The folks on the outside, by definition, are supposed to attack. Since [the Democrats] want to get in the White House, they are going to look for whatever advantage they have."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said yesterday that the administration is not concerned that frequent increases in the terror-alert level might lead some to say Mr. Bush is "crying wolf."