President Obama’s decision to order the Seal Team Six raid against Osama bin Laden may seem like a no-brainer in hindsight, but in reality the president took on a lot of risk: American lives, a diplomatic or military conflict with Pakistan, and a failure to kill bin Laden that could have resulted in an international propaganda victory for al-Qaeda.
These are the disaster scenarios that typically come to mind when a White House official praises the president for his courage during the raid. But according to Vice President Biden, Obama’s real act of valor was ordering the operation despite the catastrophic possibility that a failed mission could tarnish his reelection chances:
“This guy’s got a backbone like a ramrod,” Biden said of Obama, according to the White House pool report. He cited the success of the military mission to capture Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last summer as a decisive moment for his presidency.
“He said, ‘Go,’ knowing his presidency was on the line,” Biden said of Obama. “Had he failed in that audacious mission, he would’ve been a one-term president.”
The Obama campaign has highlighted the Navy SEAL mission that resulted in the death of bin Laden as one of the top accomplishments of the president’s term. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who hosted the fundraiser at his Georgetown home, summed up Obama’s first term using a favorite line of Biden’s: “Osama bin Laden is dead. General Motors is alive.”
If there’s one thing you’d hope the Commander in Chief isn’t preoccupied with during such a critical moment, it’s the risk to his own reelection. And the fact that Biden touts this as if it were the president’s most selfless act of courage really tells you where the Obama administration’s primary concerns lie. This White House has injected election politics into nearly every issue it’s tackled during the past three years, including national security. They’ve practically been running for reelection since the moment Obama was sworn in.
Which is yet another reason why America’s enemies don’t take Obama’s warnings seriously. When doubts have been raised about whether Obama has the backbone to take military action against Iran, his supporters point to the bin Laden raid as evidence of his fortitude. But if the White House was concerned about election-year fallout from the bin Laden raid – an operation that was risky, but was supported almost unanimously by the American public – what are the chances Obama would take on an even riskier mission that has less public support?
Not getting bin Laden in Tora Bora in 2001 didn't hurt Bush's reelection in 2004, although the Democrats certainly tried to make an issue of it. I don't think we would have even known about it if the mission Obama authorized had failed. And if it had been disclosed it would have been to show that Obama was on the job, still hunting him. n nAmusing that the GM bailout is somehow comparable to the bin Laden kill mission. Not really seeing that. Now maybe if they'd put Seal Team 6 in charge of GM that bailout wouldn't have been necessary. That would have been a truly courageous move.
While I myself generally oppose President Obama's policies and believe Obama himself suffers from a bad case of narcissism; (an interesting psychological question would be; who is the more narcissistic Barak Obama or Bill Clinton?), I do have to give Obama credit for ordering the go ahead for the Bin Laden mission. There were some risks involved in this decision. And Lord knows if there was ever a man who deserved to be shot in the head in the middle of the night by a Navy Seal it was Bin Laden.
Please keep perspective and recall some history: n n1. You mis-state the risks. Doing nothing was also risky. He could look incredibly weak if he did nothing and it leaked out that he flinched when his military told him they could get Osama. And there was a ton of upside that mitigated the risk. Namely, the upside he is reaping from this. And you have to ask: wouldn't any US president do the same thing? n n2. Finally, you should compare this trumped up situation to genuine risk: Bush's decision to do the Surge in Iraq in 2006. There was huge downside and little upside for him. The decision was highly unpopular, and risked thousands of lives. n nIf Obama took risks and deserves credit for having SEAL team 6 kill Public Enemy Number One, then George W. Bush should be considered to have taken vastly more risk and deserve vastly more credit for what he did. n
NEXT UP! FLASH! PREZ OBAMA COMES OUT IN FAVOR OF MOM AND APPLE PIE! n n"That guy has guts like like a steel battleship," muses VP Biden, "when you think of the chances he's taking with his pro-choice base. Well, he's also pretty much for abortion on demand too, God bless me, the mother, the doctor, a private choice of her boyfriend, or estranged spouse, or the milkman. That kids' toast. Oh, and only one slide of that pie, we want to stay on the good side of the First Lady".
"Oh, and please do not tell Mrs. Obama that Barak still likes to smoke his menthol cigarettes or there will be bloody hell to pay!"
We are all Americans. Democrats and Republicans are equally threatened by terrorists. It is in our interest to unite against those who kill us.
Biden himself opposed going after Bin Laden. I guess that Biden doesn't quite have the resolve that his boss possesses. That such a person is first in line to succeed the President, is quite unsettling.