Setting the Tone

The role that terrorism plays as a symbolic and practical issue will be different. Terrorism, the 'war on terror' and the idea of a 'wartime president' provided the centripetal focus of the Bush presidency, from the September 11, 2001 attacks onward. Obama focused on the economy in the months leading up to the election, rather than on security. In this, he mirrored not only American, but global, concern about the plunging economic situation. Obama will not replicate Bush's sweeping, holistic approach to terrorism, nor use the rhetoric of a "global war on terror." In practice, his foreign policy approaches are unlikely to homogenize distinct regional conflicts as versions of the same "terrorism."