Daily Beast: Obama has nearly decimated al Qaeda. Why doesn’t he brag about it? Michael Tomasky on liberals’ squeamishness at thumping their chests — and the endless victory lap that Bush would have taken.
The immediate political question raised by the successful drone attack that took out Anwar al-Awlaki is simple. How much credit will Barack Obama get for this? He ordered renewed drone attacks in Yemen earlier this year, and now, we see clear results. But I doubt Obama will derive much political benefit….
When that SEAL team nailed Osama bin Laden, Obama got about a five-point bounce out of it, but it washed away as quickly as a wave on a beach….
…. Imagine if the Bush administration had killed bin Laden, under circumstances as daring as the ones under which he actually was put on ice by the Obama administration. Imagine what that week would have been like. On Fox News, we’d have been subjected to endless Soviet-style encomia to our heroic leader … in all likelihood, Bush and Cheney and Rummy and Condi would have dashed around the country making speeches … in the presence of some of the very 9/11 widows whom the Bushies aspersed for wanting things like an honest commission investigation into how 9/11 happened in the first place.
Obama didn’t do it. He held the press conference the night it happened. He quietly and tastefully — and wordlessly — laid a wreath at Ground Zero….
… the Obama administration has decimated al Qaeda in Iraq and Pakistan over the last three years…..(but) liberals don’t generally gloat about these things. It may cost Obama a few points in the opinion polls. But it’s the more honorable course for the country. We should go get these people, but we should be humble about it.
Full article here
Thanks Jackie
The Obama Diary 
Sigh!!!
but somehow that just doesn’t seem fair to me….
This President does not gloat, or as he puts it, he doesn’t spike the ball. But it also should be noted, this President does not get swiftboated. So yes, he will not do a victory lap over every setback to Al Quaeda, I am confident that if any GOP nominee attempts to paint him as weak on combating terrorism, he and his time will remind of the foreign policy achievements that happened on his watch and may go as far as to compare the success of his strategy to the Dick Cheney/John Bolton records of failure.
I guess the point the writer was trying to make and it is the same one a LOT of folks have made since the killing of OBL is that the media and the Bush people would have declared that month of celebration had Bush gotten this mofo and his likeness would have been erected on Mount Rushmore and that the President should come out early and remind the American people who a-will NEVER give him credit : Bachmann;etc b-those suffering from selective memory that OBL was killed under President Obama NOT Bush
you had King;Townsend;Haiden and every other fucker out of the Bush Administration come out of their rat holes parade on our tv’s for days and weeks after the killing of OBL trying to link this to Bush while he sat on his ass and hands and did nothing
so I guess just like my mom and a lot of people think;the President;the Administration;the Democrats most of all should be on tv crediting THIS President and they should take ownership of this
anyway just my 2 cents 😉
I completely agree with your 2 cents Fred.
thanks Donna 😀 and yes I’ll never understand that rating either but I understand manipulation
80 friggin percent approval rating is what Bush had for months for letting OBL attack America…..
I cannot stand our lazy, sloppy irresponsible media!
I think the “media” goes beyond lazy and sloppy. Imo, they are lying gopropagandists and an enemy of America.
I also think by not bragging about the deaths of our enemies the terrorists cannot as easily use it as a recruiting tool. It is never a happy event to cheer killing. It would make us like the audience in the GOP debate that cheered the number of executions Rick Perry had resided over. I prefer our President’s approach. Get it done with little fanfare.
GLOAT? No need to; we have much more work to do. HISTORY and FACTS will judge this President that’s the most important thing.
Couldn’t agree more.
OT – Boston Herald reporting “Dems face off for Senate seat” — A debate is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct 4th for Elizabeth Warren and several other Massachussetts Democrats vying to un-seat Scott Brown. Here’s the link: http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1369792
“The candidates for Democratic nomination include: State Rep. Tom Conroy, immigration attorney Marisa DeFranco, City year founder Alan Khazei, social justice advocate Bob Massie, Herb Robinson, a musician and software tech, and Harvard professor and former presidential advisor Elizabeth Warren.”
POTUS looks like he’s having a hard time holding in his emotions in this photo.
I repeat my earlier verdict: Going after Bin Laden with a helicopter SWAT in stead of just bombing the site is shear brilliance. My great aunt, who was a courier for one of the many branches of the Dutch Resistance during WW II would turn in her grave if she’d known of the security breaches by the Al Qaeda crew.
Before Bashing Clean Energy As Wasteful, Rep. Forbes (R-VA) Asked Secretary Chu For BioFuel Loans
Republicans have seized on the Solyndra controversy to go on a witch hunt against all clean energy programs authorized by the Department of Energy. For instance, Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) has pressed for an investigation of all clean energy programs. A post on his congressional website claims such spending is “wasteful” and boasts that Forbes has voted “against every bailout and stimulus plan.”
http://randyforbes.house.gov/Blog/?postid=261892
Forbes, for instance, sent a letter to Secretary Steven Chu expressing support for International Biofuels’ application for a clean energy loan guarantee from the Department of Energy. Despite the fact Forbes voted against the funding mechanism for the loan, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he requested that the Obama administration give preference to a company planning a renewable energy plant in Virginia. View a copy of the Department of Energy’s response below:
http://www.slideshare.net/lee_fang/rep-randy-forbes-rva-requests-clean-energy-loan-from-doe
Earlier this month, Forbes joined his colleagues in a protest vote against Department of Energy clean energy grant programs, including a cut against the same program he requested money from.
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll727.xml
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and David Vitter (R-LA), as well as Reps. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Fred Upton (R-MI), and others had sought Department of Energy clean energy money in previous years
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/09/20/323498/solyndra-republican-house-members-loan-guarantees/
http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/09/30/333110/green-jobs-preview/
There are times I’d like to see Dem’s take a cue from the Karl Rove playbook and hit your opponent at his perceived “strength”. Barack Obama has done more than any Republican president in modern times to do the difficult work of decimating extremists who do great harm not just to the United States but to civilization in general. He fixed the broken diplomatic system that was left in tatters after the likes of Cheney and Bolton and the completely ineffectual Condi Rice. He put the focus where it needed to be, instead of an amorphous endless war to enrich defense contractors. He has done everything an honest Republican should cheer.
This should be a compelling part of the narrative. I appreciate humility. I really do. But I am hoping that the campaign stands tall and proud of its immense accomplishments militarily and diplomatically to make this world a safer and better place.
I get your point. I also feel that the campaign believes that grassroots communication is critical. The media is not working to re-elect President Obama or to further the truth – the exact opposite. People only see snippets of his speeches, or get snarky comments and tweets from the likes of Mark Knoller in the White House Press Corps, who seems to be bored with having to hear the same stump speech over and over (I think he thinks the President is supposed to be entertaining him). That can only be countered by on the ground people speaking the truth to people who trust them. If the President is being maligned, then he can scream from the rafters and it will make little difference to someone who doesn’t trust him. But if they trust you – and you tell them the truth, then his message is amplified in a very real way.
When the President toots his own horn, he’s called “arrogant”, or somehow the right wing blows a gasket.
What people need to know is that even if the right wing spent billions on the election, each person owns their own vote. They either use it or they forfeit it t the other side. And if they’re hearing from their informed friends and family about the real stories, then they might just make better decisions on voting day. People voted for the tea party candidates, and they voted to let the Republicans stall progress in this country. The only people who can make this right is those same people. Because when President Obama leaves office, then those same people need to guard the change for future elections. It can’t all be down to the President or his communication team. Individual people need to get informed and empowered.
*the more honorable course for the country*
I’ll take that, any day of the week! Thank you, President Obama.
To those who ask why Obama doesn’t brag about his Al Quaida achievements, I say, it’s like bragging about having a big d-ck. No need to advertise, the big d!ck automatically speaks voluminously.