If you want a good microcosm of Bush’s overall performance on homeland security, take a look at yesterday’s headline :

U.S. Warns al-Qaida May Hijack Planes

Federal officials say they have no plans to raise the nation’s terrorism alert level despite warnings that five-man al-Qaida teams may be planning to hijack and crash more airplanes, similar to the Sept. 11 attacks.

“The hijackers may try to calm passengers and make them believe they were on a hostage, not suicide, mission,” a warning distributed over the weekend to airlines and law enforcement agencies said. “The hijackers may attempt to use common items carried by travelers, such as cameras, modified as weapons.”

…and today’s headline :

U.S. May Cut Air Marshals Despite Warning

The Transportation Security Administration wants to reduce funding for air marshals even as the government is warning about the possibility al-Qaida may try more suicide hijackings.

The TSA is seeking approval from Congress to cut $104 million from the air marshal program to help offset a $900 million budget shortfall. It’s unclear how many of the estimated several thousand air marshal jobs would be affected.

“When we are faced with more priorities than we have funding to support, we have to go through a process of trying to address the most urgent needs,” TSA spokesman Robert Johnson said.

Now Bush sure does want us to believe that his biggest priority is keeping us safe, but it’s clear that his priorities change somewhere between the podium and the checkbook. Bush has this uncanny ability to pull money out of some sort of magical hat. How else do you explain how he’s able to secure billions of dollars for tax cuts and the war in Iraq but can’t pony up enough cash to protect us against the first specific threat (and the only big threat that’s already been used against us) we’ve received since 9/11?