Obama Moves Out Front in Wake of Bombings

Howard Kurtz says President Obama’s “low-key handling of earlier terror incidents” — such as when a Nigerian man tried to blow up a jetliner on Christmas in 2009 — “may have been a reaction to the intense, color-coded, high-alert ethos of the Bush era.”

Said David Axelrod: “No doubt, we gave him bad advice. This was over a holiday weekend, facts were still evolving and Napolitano was going out on Sunday shows and could brief the nation.”  Still, he says, “that advice neglected the important, ministerial role the president plays in times of crisis. Even though he was in constant contact with his team, people needed go see and hear from him. We all learned that lesson.”

The Washington Post notes Obama will travel to Boston on Thursday “to attend an interfaith service for those who were killed and gravely injured in the attack on the Boston Marathon.”