# Here's the attempt to "Swiftboat' Obama **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 16, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685 "2012-08-16T17:12:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/81 "2012-08-17T12:06:39Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Which part? The whole thing. The phony framing of the issue, the selective quoting of cherry picked lines and obvious exclusion of others from public statements, the hypocrisy of some asshole not even in the service anymore talking about “we” did this, the pretending that the details of such missions are not discussed afterwards… ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/82 "2012-08-17T12:14:06Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > but them I’m biased. Nominations for understatement of the year are now closed as we have our winner. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/83 "2012-08-17T12:32:11Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > It seems to me that any commercial that reminds voters that Obama ordered, and achieved, the killing of Osama Bin Laden is a good thing for the President. The more that it is put in terms like that, with that tone, the more it hurts Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/84 "2012-08-17T12:32:23Z")
Just so I understand, the Republicans are using the alleged leaked comments from some alleged Republican special forces staff as grounds for complaining about leaks in Mr Obama’s administration? Specifically, these Republican soldiers (sailors?), think it is arrogant for anyone else on the team to claim any credit for the death of Bin Laden, because all the credit belongs to them? Does this really work as a political strategy in America? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/85 "2012-08-17T12:33:18Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Let’s contrast: > > "Yesterday, December the 13th, at around 8:30 p.m. Baghdad time, United States military forces captured Saddam Hussein alive. He was found near a farmhouse outside the city of Tikrit, in a swift raid conducted without casualties. And now the former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions. > That was Bush. Here’s Obama: > > And so shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al-Qaida, even as we continued our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat his network. > > Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground. I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan. And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice. > > Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body. > They both gave credit to the troops, but one guy really seems to want to highlight his own role. “I”, "Me, “My”, there’s an awful lot of that. Very well said. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/86 "2012-08-17T13:05:00Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Pics, or it didn’t happen. Second thought, I’ll take your word for it. Do you mean to say that those images of Bush aren’t indelibly burned into your brain? Lucky! ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/87 "2012-08-17T13:14:00Z")
What cracks me up is that if Bush had managed to pull this off in the exact same manner and said the exact same things, the only debate we’d be having now is which president he would be replacing on Mount Rushmore. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/88 "2012-08-17T13:27:05Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Let’s contrast: > That was Bush. Here’s Obama: > They both gave credit to the troops, but one guy really seems to want to highlight his own role. “I”, "Me, “My”, there’s an awful lot of that. This is the same Bush who flew onto an aircraft carrier to give a speech in front of a giant “Mission Accomplished” banner, right? That’s the humble guy? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/89 "2012-08-17T13:32:52Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > This is the same Bush who flew onto an aircraft carrier to give a speech in front of a giant “Mission Accomplished” banner, right? That’s the humble guy? And whose closest people outed an active CIA agent. He ought to be the last guy to bring up for these kind of comparisons. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/90 "2012-08-17T14:25:56Z")
> [@JQPublic](#): > > However the body wasn’t even cold when he had the press conference confirming that bin ladin was dead. So any intelligence they were able to collect became useless. Really? Why? > [@](#): > > **And the press conference had to happen because the press was already reporting on it.** Somebody told somebody something and that is a problem. I don’t remember it that way. Can you document that? In any event, do you really believe the government would sit on this news for any period of time? ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/91 "2012-08-17T14:27:03Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > This is the same Bush who flew onto an aircraft carrier to give a speech in front of a giant “Mission Accomplished” banner, right? That’s the humble guy? Wearing a flight jacket. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/92 "2012-08-17T14:34:00Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > Wearing a flight jacket. Well, actually a whole flight suit, playing as if he were actually a pilot. (Yeah, yeah, he got credit hours from the Texas Air National Guard, but that flight suit stunt was the essence of undeserved self-puffery.) A lot of conservatives were also giddy about how he looked with his junk all framed by the straps. Conservatives like that kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/93 "2012-08-17T14:35:16Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > The word you’re looking for is “uppity.” Side note: I recently had a long conversation with a conservative black man on another thread where he swore that the term “uppity” had absolutely no racial connotations. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/94 "2012-08-17T14:41:05Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Presidents are supposed to have humility. Bullshit. **No** politician or elected official should have humility. You need a rare and special kind of arrogance to get anything at all done in politics, because anything worth doing is bound to meet with fierce opposition. You need the arrogance to believe (a) you know what’s best for society and (b) you’re the person to get it done. A humble politician is a useless as a cowardly soldier. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/95 "2012-08-17T14:42:01Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Very well said. I wonder why you contrast paragraph one of Bush’s speech with paragraph eight of Obama’s speech? You don’t need to answer that, it’s a rhetorical question - everybody, and I mean everybody, knows why you did that. Here’s paragraph one of Obama’s speech: THE PRESIDENT: \*Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. \* You guys have given up, haven’t you? \_Please tell me that you have something more, Lieutenant. These two Marines are on trial for their lives. Please tell me their lawyer hasn’t pinned their hopes to a phone bill._ \ ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/96 "2012-08-17T14:44:13Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > They both gave credit to the troops, but one guy really seems to want to highlight his own role. “I”, "Me, “My”, there’s an awful lot of that. You are above this, adaher. Don’t even start this crap. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/97 "2012-08-17T14:44:32Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Bullshit. **No** politician or elected official should have humility. You need a rare and special kind of arrogance to get anything at all done in politics, because anything worth doing is bound to meet with fierce opposition. You need the arrogance to believe (a) you know what’s best for society and (b) you’re the person to get it done. A humble politician is a useless as a cowardly soldier. It takes a special kind of arrogance to be subordinate to the entire country, yet think that makes you the man. And every once in awhile, his bosses have to put him in his place. It’s happened to a lot of Presidents, hopefully it will happen to this one too. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/98 "2012-08-17T14:49:03Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > It takes a special kind of arrogance to be subordinate to the entire country, yet think that makes you the man. And every once in awhile, his bosses have to put him in his place. It’s happened to a lot of Presidents, hopefully it will happen to this one too. What are you even talking about now? Swiftboating is the political equivalent of trolling. It’s ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/99 "2012-08-17T15:00:45Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > It takes a special kind of arrogance to be subordinate to the entire country, yet think that makes you the man. Special, and **indispensable.** A president’s job (any elected official’s job), after all, is not to take his lead in making policy decisions from the public-opinion-poll results of the moment, but to exercise his own judgment and do what **he** thinks is best. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685/100 "2012-08-17T15:03:42Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > BTW, is there any policy failure that Obama has owned up to? Ever? You know, aside from “I just work too darn hard”. Funny, that’s EXACTLY like a common criticism that was used against Bush. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-the-attempt-to-swiftboat-obama/631685.md?page=6)