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Earlier this morning, CNN presented a report about President Obama’s vacation in Ban Harbor, Maine. After discussing the usual details about the Obama family’s hikes and how no president is ever truly on vacation and so on and so forth, Suzanne Malveaux pointed out CBS’s White House Correspondent Mark Knoller’s figures showing that Obama has taken less vacation time than the most recent President Bush. What was most interesting is how she managed to force this detail into the report in, quite possibly, the most awkward fashion possible.

It’s hard not to wonder if the story of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab may turn out to be the biggest story of the year if it keeps developing the way it does. Actually, it’s getting hard not to feel a sense of deja vu all over again as more of the details come to light, because while the attempted attack on Northwest Flight 253 in no way resembles the horror and destruction of September 11, 2001 the lack of government preparedness in the face of a whole lot of intel leading up to it is starting to feel awfully familiar.

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There is growing consensus that President Obama reaction to the failed terrorist attack on Flight 253 was, at best, tardy. While some have pointed out that his reaction was one of a calm and collected leader, the somewhat bungled message by Janet Napolitano has lead some to question the viability of her future as Secretary of DHS. Today, Obama made an audio statement, which surely set the cable news producers in overdrive to scramble for tonight’s shows.