Give Vice President Biden kudos for honesty, if not for good judgment. Apparently, he said in a recent speech that he had advised President Obama against launching the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. As reported by the Daily Caller:
The president “went around the table with all the senior people, including the chiefs of staff,” Biden explained. “And he said, ‘I have to make this decision. What is your opinion?’ He started with the national security adviser and the secretary of state, and he ended with me. Every single person in that room hedged their bet except [Secretary of Defense] Leon Panetta. Leon said go. Everyone else said 49, 51, this got to be, ‘Joe, what do you think?’
“And I said, ‘You know, I didn’t know we had so many economists around the table.’ I said, ‘We owe the man a direct answer. Mr. President, my suggestion is don’t go. We have to do two more things to see if he’s there.’”
This does little to increase faith in the judgment of a vice president who, based on his track record, does not inspire much faith anyway–he was, after all, the senator who was for the war in Iraq but against the surge and called instead for breaking that country into three. But it reiterates that Obama is able to make tough decisions–sometimes. The president deserves, and will take, all the credit in the world for such gutsy calls as the bin Laden raid or the more recent SEAL mission in Somalia to rescue two hostages. I only wish he were wiling to make equally tough decisions by finding a way to keep troops in Iraq or avoid a premature drawdown in Afghanistan–or for that matter tackle the runaway entitlement spending which is bankrupting us.
The discussion as to whether Obama deserves credit for the 'gutsy decision' to take out Bin Laden is ludicrous. n nAs if any one in his shoes, when presented with the opportunity, would say "NO". n nThe way Obama crowed about it, you'd think he actually slapped on a flack jacket and mask and headed out the door with an automatic weapon to do the deed himself, rather that sitting 9000 miles away with a coffee in his hand and a bunch of overweight advisers watching it go down on TV. n nWhat this little story tells us, besides the fact that Biden is a monumental tool, is how vapid and milquetoast his 'advisers' are. n n49%, 51%, indeed! n n
This is clearly for consumption by gullible media. I can't believe Max Boot buys this. n nPulling the trigger on UBL was not a gutsy call. Any president would love to be in the position to have his top brass tell him they can get Osama Bin Laden (with hedges), with only Joe Biden saying no. Even Jimmy Carter pulled the trigger to rescue hostages. n nThis is all part of a clear political strategy to dwell on Obama's one notable military success. n nMax Boot should not be so ready to lap this stuff up.
I don't buy Biden's assertion for a minute. This was an easy call. I can't see any US President (well- not Ron Paul or Dennis Kuccinich) not pulling the trigger.
I'm not an Obama fan, but I think it was a gutsy call too, and he deserves credit for it. it could have been really ugly. n nhaving said that: it would be nice if Obama would give credit to others as well. for instance, the intel that allowed him to make that call is something he "inherited" from George W. Bush along with that bad economy. we'll never hear him admit that it was plans laid by Bush that enabled the Seal operation in the first place. but it was. n n
@michiganruth–If killing Osama Bin Ladin was "gutsy," then what was the Surge? Super, duper, duper, duper, duper Gutsy?
what surge? n nbtw, BDZ, this is commentary, not twitter. we don't do the @ thing before names.
Michiganruth–Thanks for the tip! n nThe Surge, as in the 2006 Troop Surge in Iraq? Surely if the politically easy call of killing Osama is gutsy, then there must be a whole new vocabulary for the Troop Surge, which held nothing but political peril for Bush. My only point: You and Max are giving Obama far too much credit. It was an easy call, compared to the Surge and comparable to basically every other important covert mission that every president tries.
oh! I thought you were talking about the half-*ss troop movement that Obama considered a surge in Afghanistan, when he sent half the troops the generals wanted 6 months too late. n nI think you misunderstand me. this is probably the second time in 3 years I've given Obama credit for ANYTHING. I was a disaffected Democrat during the Bush years, and I have to admit I didn't appreciate him. I do now. (for my penance, I have a "Miss Me Yet?" bumper sticker with a pic of Bush posted at the office.) n nmy feeling about OBL is that we have to give Obama credit, because if we don't, the Democrats will say–rightly–"Obama can't do ANYTHING these people like!" n nthere are sooooo many things we can disagree with Obama over. I don't think giving him credit here hurts our cause.
Fair point, and I'd normally agree, if I felt that there was a remotely "fair fight" going on here. But I feel that there is zero credit given to Bush or the Republicans for anything done right (in fact, just more blame coming their way). We can give a little credit, for sure, but all this "gutsy" and "steely" determination stuff from Boot is over the top.
And thus the one unquestionable rule of foreign policy — that Joe Biden is always wrong about major foreign affairs decisions — is proven correct once again!
The decision to kill a mass murderer is an education in “Duh”! I would not have had second thought to deep six him. Out of the ridiculous decisions this creep has made (keystone, obamacare, self before country, Holder, et al. )he actually got it right for a change. I personally feel this is one of the most narcissistic, deranged and dangerous person we’ve ever had in the White House. He will try to burn down the country before relinquishing the presidency and I’m glad that the people are waking-up to this poseur’s deranged self regard!
I share Bobba's feelings about The One. But as to Biden's idea of dividing Iraq into three, it's not a wholly bad idea. Nor was it original with Biden. Dividing Iraq into three parts: Kurdish north, Sunni center, Shiite south, plus special zones for minorities such as Assyrians who need their own weapons might help the constant state of civil war in that non-country. But Biden did not know how to propose such an idea. If he said it while vice president, then it was something that a VP should not say. He's as diplomatic as a bull in a china shop.
Some commenters are missing the point about what exactly was “gutsy” about this. Sure, any US President would have taken a clean shot at bin Laden. But there was, in fact, not certainty that bin Laden was there. It was one of those intelligence “assessments” that are basically good guesses. What if bin Laden was not there, but the mission led to American casualties and a few dead women too boot? It was well worth incurring the crazed reaction from backstabbing Pakistanis about invading their sovereignty as a price for bin Laden’s head, but how about that Pakistani anger (which has among other things still blocked CIA drone operations on Pakistani soil) on top of a fiasco.
I don’t know that I would say it took “guts” to make the call. After all, it wasn’t Obama’s skin on the line. But it was admirable that he was willing to take a military, strategic and political risk on an operation that had considerably less than certainty of success (recall, the intelligence estimate was about 69-40). When Clinton had a series of chances to take out bin Laden, he passed due to the risks.
And let’s give some credit to Leon Panetta and the often-maligned CIA. They called it and persuaded Obama.
All this does is reinforce the maxim — whatever Joe Biden says to do, do the opposite.