Maybe, but it was Bush who failed to pull the trigger when we had bin Laden dead to rights in Tora Bora. And the house/compound was apparently built five years ago, so it’s unlikely that much of the directly related intelligence was collected during Bush’s tenure.
Meh. He didn’t seem to need any props to underline the silliness hard. Pack a fire extinguisher before clicking that link, because it’s just burn after burn.
It was launched from a Pakistani airbase, apparently using at least one Pakistan security forces helicopter, and Obama gave credit to counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan for helping lead them to Bin Laden.
That sounds like consent to me.
I agree with the OP to the extent that this will not change the minds of people who would not vote for Obama under any circumstances. Nor will it have any effect on how people who would not vote for a Republican under any circumstances will vote. The True Believers on both sides will not be swayed either way.
But elections are decided by the people in the middle and I believe this will have an effect on them. It demonstrably shows that the Obama administration was able to do something that the Bush administration could not. Sure there will be a lot of spin on it but one side will be offered results and the other side will be offering excuses.
I agree with this. FWIW, I found myself thinking as he approached the end of his speech that it was the first time I’d seen him come across as “presidential”. (I hope it’s not the beginning of a trend. :D)
I don’t think this incident makes Obama a shoo-in for reelection, but, as others have said, it does give him a boost, especially with type of voter who bases their votes on a candidate’s looks, likeability or other non-political reasons.
Sure it’ll help. This is a major policy milestone- people have wanted this for a decade and Obama delivered. It is good news for just about everyone in the world. Maybe now the US can scale back the war on terror without looking weak, which might do some good for the debt and perhaps free up resources to tackle that pesky gas price via alternative energy. At the very least he produced something America can be proud of.
Basically this is a feather in the cap of a guy who might have a great list of accomplishments come election day.
Technical word for that type of voter is “moron”.
Because now, when he withdraws from Pakistan, he’ll be able to claim, with considerable basis, that we accomplished our mission, and we’re leaving. Before killing Osama, he was subject to “cut and run” criticism from the right, and subject to “wasting $ and treasure” criticism from the right. Now he’s subject to neither–he simply accomplished his goals there, and withdrew our troops. Case closed.
Where are you getting this information? The Post says it was launched from Afghanistan and that President Obama didn’t notify Pakistan until after the helicopters were out of Pakistan’s airspace. I’ve seen no mention anywhere of a non-US helicopter.
It would be absurd to work with Pakistan because of the chance someone would warn bin Laden. It is being reported that very few people knew about the raid, even among top staffers in the administration.
Depends, I suppose. Some punditti claim that the reason the current crop of Republican “candidates” looks so much like a goon platoon is because no serious contender will step forth to be the next Bob Dole, and sacrifice any chance he may have had. If such is the case, then this cannot make it any better, and you wouldn’t really see any difference.
Obama will get a hefty boost right now, but there aren’t any elections right now. And next November is twelve parsecs away.
This is simply incorrect. As an example, check out someplace like Democratic Underground and you will currently see many many people exuberant over OBL’s death and who are and were big Obama supporters. Were you somehow under the impression that most lefties didn’t want OBL eliminated?
Beyond behind a murderous monster, which is enough in itself, OBL was a fundamentalist religious fanatic, lefties HATE fundamentalist religious fanatics.
Nitpick: Less than half a parsec.
(and yes, I do recognize the Star Wars reference)
Everything said so far, plus this: No one who has a real shot in hell is going to waste it trying to beat an incumbent with this much positive and so little negative, and if they ever considered it for a second, this just shut that door.
It’s a done deal, folks, settle in for six more years of The Coolest Man in Politics.
Their votes have exactly the same weight as a vote by an esteemed member of the Brookings Institution or a staff member of The Washington Post, the Onion, or the Cabinet.
But pretty much all of the Republicans have been running on a platform that Obama is a failure who hasn’t accomplished anything. That’s not going to resonate now.
All of the Republican candidates are going to have to essentially start their campaigns over again with a new message.
Yes, there are a lot of them, they voted for Bush in 2004 in droves. We have to take them into account in any electoral calculations, and the fact that Obama got bin Laden is gonna help a lot with the morons.
The only difference here is that Bush, like all Republicans, have automatic national security cred. (Maybe not actual cred, but that is how the media spins it.) So, doing an excellent job in GW I didn’t help that much. It was also so well executed that it looked easy, and so didn’t have the drama and the sense of doing the impossible that killing bin Laden did.
And then there’s this:
Osama bin Laden raid yields trove of computer data
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54151.html#ixzz1LF8pM9yr
Imagine us rolling up most of the Al Qaeda network worldwide. That has to count for something.
You conservatives never let facts get in your way, do you? If reality conflicts with your pre-conceived notions you just make shit up.
Sure, Bush announced he was not even looking for Ben laden, but somehow he was in charge of the operations that took him down. Do you have any idea how dumb that is?