Suppose Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the Christmas Day underwear bomber, had succeeded and blown up Northwest Airlines flight 253, killing nearly 300 people on board and perhaps others on the ground? Would the response of the Obama administration have been different?

The president probably would have attended memorial services for the dead, expressed “strong condemnation,” persuaded the United Nations to issue more worthless resolutions, but little more. That’s because the president isn’t fighting — or speaking — as if we are at war.