Now that the world’s most infamous killer has been taken out of
circulation, how should conservatives feel? I mean, apart from the
pride in our military and intelligence personnel and the
satisfaction that there is one less thug to direct the forces of
evil against Western civilization.
It’s true that some questions remain, particularly with
the White House’s abominable handling of the facts in the case. One
can’t blame those who have doubts about many of the details
surrounding the killing and disposal of bin Laden. Indeed, recent
reports indicating that a deal may have been made between
then-presidents Bush and Musharraf permitting U.S. missions to
capture the Al Qaeda chief within Pakistani borders, would explain
a lot.
But aside from these considerations, why are some
conservatives feeling a bit queasy about the whole thing? Has our
inveterate dislike for the policies of our president so hardened
our hearts that we are no longer capable of giving credit where
credit is due?
I don’t think so. It has more to do with Obama’s take on
the killing and the reaction of his supporters to it.
Maybe it was the swooning and drooling that rolled across
the print and airwaves of America like a tsunami in the aftermath
of the killing. Chris Matthews
summed up the dizzying exuberance of the media when he
pronounced it “best week ever” for the country. This unrestrained
glee over the death of bin Laden after ten years of pursuit was,
shall we say, in sharp contrast to the left’s reaction when George
W. Bush issued his famous “dead or alive” ultimatum while the
rubble at Ground Zero was still smoking, which was dismissed as
“wild west rhetoric.”
But it is now Barack Obama and the powers behind his
teleprompter that are dishing out the gunslinger talk. In an
interview Sunday on 60 Minutes, the president said,
“[O]ne thing I didn’t lose sleep over was the possibility of
taking bin Laden out. Justice was done.” Added to this new
portrayal of himself as a cool dispenser of vigilante justice was
the role of courageous wartime leader. How do we know this? Because
he was not too humble to deign to explain it all to his subjects.
As he elaborated in his most Churchillian fashion for the CBS
cameras:
You know, every time I make a decision — about launching
a missile, every time I make a decision about sending troops into
battle — you know I understand that this will result in people
being killed. And that is a sobering fact. But it is one that comes
with the job.
Yet Obama does deserve credit for courage; especially in the
face of his own base. This should answer any questions about the
absolute certainty of his re-election chances. Now I’m not
suggesting that the president acted on any other motive than a
sincere desire to rid the world of our sworn enemy. No, it’s the
pose that he’s chosen to employ in its wake that seems to imply
that he needs to fire up the independents, or as they used to be
known, Reagan Democrats.
The thing is, Obama’s action against Osama — and the
manner in which the intelligence for the mission was gleaned —
doesn’t square with the stated foreign policy objectives on which
he campaigned. His past record can’t help but make his opponents
feel that the whole business carries with it a decided whiff of
opportunism.
And maybe this is at the core of what disturbs
conservatives about last week’s events. George Bush fought two wars
that he felt served the same end; defending an American way of life
he strongly believed in, while asserting our right to act
unilaterally in pursuit of same. There just isn’t the same sense of
conviction with Obama.
Maybe I’m wrong; I hope that I am. I want to believe that
being in close proximity to the intelligence to which he is now
privy has changed Obama into the sort of leader of which all
Americans can be proud; one who has been transformed by witnessing
the actions of those who are ready to give their lives for our
country and its Constitution. If the rest of America can ever be
convinced of that — and not just that he was the right man in the
right place at the right time — he might indeed be a candidate to
be reckoned with. But don’t bet on it.
