As far as counterterrorism policies are concerned, what is most at stake in the election contest between Obama and Romney are differential categories of trust and mistrust, and resulting asymmetries in their abilities to get things done. Because Obama is a democrat who came to office with a civil liberties reputation, he garners more trust, support, and leeway from the public, Congress and courts than a hawkish republican when it comes to “aggressive” counterterrorism actions (drone strikes, indefinite detention, proxy detentions, and the like), but less trust, support, and leeway on “dovish” counterterrorism policies (like closing GTMO and criminal trials). By contrast, and for mirror image reasons, Romney would (like Obama’s predecesor) have more leeway to reduce the GTMO population and conduct criminal trials but would receive more scrutiny and criticism, and have less room for maneuver, for drone strikes and proxy detentions. There are many complications here, but the bottom line is that a democratic president has more leeway than a republican one to conduct aggressive counterterrorism policies, and less leeway to conduct dovish ones.
