# Obama's Ad on bin Laden, Romney: Fair or Foul? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 30, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415 "2012-04-30T15:09:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/61 "2012-05-01T16:26:59Z")
> [@I Love Me](#): > > I’m not sure that this is what you’re implying here but, one could make the case that while it was nice to get Obama, we had no business doing so in a country we are not at war with-- i.e. we violated Pakistan’s sovereignty. This is confusing. Can someone please clarify whether Obama was born in the USSR, Indonesia, Kenya or Pakistan? ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/62 "2012-05-01T17:14:49Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by Gyrate > To be fair, Reagan made the ballsy decision to invade Grenada. > > Say, how’s that Grenada Memorial coming along? I recall saying, “Hey, a war we can win.” When that invasion was announced. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/63 "2012-05-01T17:29:54Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > This is confusing. Can someone please clarify whether Obama was born in the USSR, Indonesia, Kenya or Pakistan? Each in some sense; Lizard People have a complex reproductive cycle. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/64 "2012-05-01T18:16:22Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’d dispute that characterization. They missed him by a slim margin and destroyed a training camp, and the bottom line is that they should have kept trying. It’s worth remembering the political context at the time. The Republicans refused to recognize the threat that Al Qaeda posed in the 90’s and the attack on the training camp was framed by leading Republicans as a cynical attempt by Clinton to distract the country from the Lewinsky scandal by manufacturing a threat where none existed. (The movie _Wag the Dog_ was repeatedly referenced in connection with the attack.) So, yes, Clinton should have done more … but he had to contend at every turn with a hostile opposition party that ridiculed any attempt to fight Islamic terrorism. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/65 "2012-05-01T18:21:06Z")
That’s all true. But of course the Lewinsky affair was a problem partly of his own making and he did have the option to ignore the Republican attacks if he was sure that the toughest action against bin Laden was necessary. He could have chosen to take the PR hit there. Even without Lewinsky I don’t think a lot of people in Congress took terrorism very seriously at that point despite the African embassy bombings. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/66 "2012-05-01T20:21:43Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > It’s totally fair game. Back in 2008 Romney explicitly said he was opposed to the tactics that Obama used to get Bin Laden. Well, it turns out that Obama made the right call. He was right and Romney was wrong and that’s an important data point for determining who should be in charge the next time a tough decision like that needs to be made. > > The GOP is just bitching because it’s a valid point and it goes straight to the heart of their weakness on national security. When Romney said that nearly everyone thought bin Laden was in a tribal area in the middle of nowhere. Launching a raid into Pakistan much further from the border and in the suburbs down the street from a military academy took twice the balls as that. Maybe Romney would have changed his mind, but he shouldn’t object to being held to what he actually said. As opposed to the ad his PAC ran attacking Obama for words McCain actually said. If you remember, when he got called on it, he said something about campaigning being tough. The right is beginning to sound like a bunch of cry babies. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/67 "2012-05-01T20:25:21Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > I’m not sure that this is what you’re implying here but, one \*could \*make the case that while it was nice to get Obama, we had no business doing so in a country we are not at war with-- i.e. we violated Pakistan’s sovereignty. Actually, I’m quite pleased that we got Obama. And it is of course essential that we get him again this November. America can never again have a Republican President. ---
**Author:** ![New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9d8465/32.png) [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Deal_Democrat)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/68 "2012-05-01T20:54:56Z")
What matters is how this looks to the electorate. A number of present and former SEALS have criticized the ad. > **[SEALs: Obama Taking Credit for bin Laden 'Cheap Shot'](https://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/SEALs-slam-Obama-binLade/2012/04/30/id/437580/)** > > Serving and former US Navy SEALs are criticizing President Barack Obama for taking the credit for killing Osama bin Laden and using them and Special Forces members as 'amunition' for his campaign. > SEALs bashed the president to the Britain's... This gives Republicans something to gloat about. I think it would have been more Presidential for President Obama to use the day to thank the SEALS for a job well done, and not to try to score shots against Romney. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/69 "2012-05-01T21:02:57Z")
Because everybody knows that the general electorate reads Newsmax… The only thing the general public picks up from this is a reminder that Obama made the call to kill OBL. And maybe that Romney whined about it (although most people will never even hear that). The rest is just grist for the political mill. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/70 "2012-05-01T21:07:36Z")
The fact that you’re linking to NewsMax says it all, though, doesn’t it? It’s kind of absurd to paint the ad as a loss for Obama on the grounds that some Republicans don’t like it. It sounds like it is generally accurate and generally worked, and there’s no serious argument to be made that he can’t campaign on the issue. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/71 "2012-05-01T21:27:56Z")
> [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](#): > > What matters is how this looks to the electorate. A number of present and former SEALS have criticized the ad. That number–per the article–would be four. Two of them are hawking books, another is a Montana State Rep (Republican, what a shock), and the fourth is unidentified (probably because he’d run afoul of the UCMJ for criticizing the president while in uniform). This is about what I’d expect from Newsmax; if these clowns are the only source for this, Obama has nothing to worry about. > [@](#): > > This gives Republicans something to gloat about. I think it would have been more Presidential for President Obama to use the day to thank the SEALS for a job well done, and not to try to score shots against Romney. He’s not running for Mr. Congeniality, he’s running for president–which in this media age means proving you have bigger b@lls than the next guy. I don’t necesasrily like that, but it’s the way it is, and Obama would be a fool to take the GOP’s “tut tuts” seriously. Romney would be smart to drop this and move on; he looks like a whiny crybaby otherwise, which only emphasizes Obama’s original point. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/72 "2012-05-01T23:13:31Z")
> [@CJJ](#): > > Romney would be smart to drop this and move on; he looks like a whiny crybaby otherwise, which only emphasizes Obama’s original point. Problem is, I don’t want Romney to do the smart thing; I want him to do the thing that’s more likely to hurt his chances to pick up any votes. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/73 "2012-05-01T23:19:19Z")
Totally fair. And quite tame by other political ad standards. Didn’t Santorum run an ad with a picture of Ahmadinejad on a television that the briefly cut to Obama while the narrator said the word “un American” in the course of a sentence- a whole attempt at subliminal advertising. That’s unfair. And the demon sheep? LOL- not a fair ad. Obama earned the brag and he takes the hits where he deserves them, too. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/74 "2012-05-02T06:10:40Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > . . . America can never again have a Republican President. Now, now, give them a chance to reform. Heck, I would have said, in 1960 or so, may God save us from ever having a Democratic President, especially from a southern state. Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/75 "2012-05-02T06:39:51Z")
And Hawaii is as far south as you can get, in the US! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/76 "2012-05-02T08:49:07Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That’s what the ad is. It asks if Romney would have made this decision. Not what I meant. I mean it needs to be positioned around a future scenario where it would actually matter. The fact that Romney would not have killed Bin Laden is irrelevant because he would not have to kill Bin Laden in his presidency. It’s highly unlikely there will be a similar situation in the next four years. What I’m saying is, to make it fair, we need a realistic scenario showing Obama, based on his past actions, doing the right thing, and Romney, based on his past actions, doing the wrong thing. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/77 "2012-05-02T13:28:38Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > What I’m saying is, to make it fair, we need a realistic scenario showing Obama, based on his past actions, doing the right thing, and Romney, based on his past actions, doing the wrong thing. It’s just plain silly to look at somebody else’s secondhand judgment of a what-if when we can look directly at those “past actions” (i.e. Romney’s attack on the idea of taking out a high-value target in Pakistan without their cooperation if opportunity and necessity so indicated) directly. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/78 "2012-05-02T13:34:55Z")
[The ad Bush would have run if he’d succeeded in killing bin Laden.](http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-may-1-2012/victory-lapse---the-anniversary-of-osama-bin-laden-s-death) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/79 "2012-05-02T14:40:12Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Funny you should bring up Carter and “Desert One”. Carter made the same sort of ballsy decision that Obama did, except that it ended rather poorly. > > So? That’s the chance you take in super high-stakes geopolitics. These are tough operations and a bajillion things can go wrong. In Carter’s case, it went sideways. In Obama’s case it went swimmingly. Yay for Obama… but both men made the hyper-gutsy decisions that, IMO, were correct to make. Both knew the incredible risks to their presidencies, and both were willing to make the right call. Yet Jimmy gets no credit for his decision. Totally unfair. > > Funny, too… these guys are both considered by the knuckle-draggers to be “bleeding-heart liberal chicken shits; adverse to any aggressive military action that could lead to American bloodletting”… :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: Yeah. Right . > > Let us never confuse from whom the true balls hang. And this is why I don’t get the Romney crack about “…even Jimmy Carter.” It makes no sense in the context of having the guts to make the call. Is it just generalized dog-whistling? – Democrats = military ops incompetent cowards? – but for Pete’s sake, Obama’s call was a success, not an inglorious disastrous failure. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415/80 "2012-05-02T15:07:20Z")
The Republican complaining about this ad has still not abated. You can tell Obama struck a nerve here. > [@BigT](#): > > I mean it needs to be positioned around a future scenario where it would actually matter. That’s also a valid argument, but no, it doesn’t _need_ to be positioned that way. It’s perfectly fair to run an ad that says “Candidate did something you approve of and Other Candidate disagreed with it at the time.” It’s a valid way to criticize someone’s judgment, and that’s where the implications for the future come in. Romney is going to have to deal with this on the auto bailout, too. > [@](#): > > It’s highly unlikely there will be a similar situation in the next four years. Now that bin Laden’s already dead, you mean? That’s arguably true - although Ayman al-Zawahiri and Mullah Omar and other guys of some significance are still out there. But it’s easier to say sign off on a raid like that once you’ve already seen how it can play out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-ad-on-bin-laden-romney-fair-or-foul/620415.md?page=5)