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The Spectacle Blog
With regard to the political implications of Osama bin Laden’s killing, Jim Antle writes, “I don’t think it guarantees President Obama a second term as it would have done for George W. Bush from 2001-04, but it has certainly strengthened his hand.”
Jim is right to say this doesn’t guarantee Obama’s re-election. After all, the election is still 18 months away and anything could happen. But barring a catastrophe it becomes increasingly difficult to see how Obama can lose. And by catastrophe I am talking about an even bigger financial meltdown than the one experienced in 2008. If there was another terrorist attack in this country on the scale of 9/11 or greater in retaliation for bin Laden’s killing I believe the nation would rally around Obama (unless he were to handle it abysmally.) The electorate is more likely to turn on Obama over our pocketbooks rather than over our security.
The magnitude of bin Laden’s killing is such that it makes Donald Trump’s efforts to question Obama’s legitimacy look petty and stupid. The emotional outpouring that has come about as a result simply cannot be ignored. The spontaneous celebrations will, of course, soon pass. Nevertheless, people will invariably associate bin Laden’s demise with President Obama. As long as that is the case the electorate will be strongly inclined to give Obama another four years in office.
TruthSayer| 5.2.11 @ 10:03AM
Obama will have a week or two of poll bump (and probably not that much among registered voters). However, the next pathetic jobs report or dismal economic news will put him back where he belongs. To think that this event will have any effect on his re-election is absurd. IF this had happened the week before the vote, maybe then a small bump. The killing of OBL does not erase the disasterous policies of the Marxist in Chief. People will vote their pocketbook and on right-track/wrong-track. OBL will be forgotten within a week.
Jeff| 5.2.11 @ 10:20AM
So you are saying that all thi9ngs remaining as they are right now, killing Bin Laden will win the 2012 election for Obama ?
Did you get your political pundit card off the back of a cereal box ?
jomo2009| 5.2.11 @ 10:29AM
After the Gulf war in 1991, Bush 41 had approval ratings as high as 91%. Come 1992 he was defeated, in part, from an economy that was sputtering to get untracked from the recession of 1990-91. A recession that was light years away from the enormity of our current economic plight. It all comes down to who the GOP nominates for president.
Alan Brooks| 5.2.11 @ 10:52AM
"It all comes down to who the GOP nominates for president."
Exactly: another post-Reagan mediocrity. You'll never learn; like a dog, the GOP returns to its own vomit.
simon templar| 5.2.11 @ 12:13PM
Odd, I find myself in agreement with you.
Quartermaster| 5.2.11 @ 9:01PM
There is a good reason that the GOP has come to be known as the stupid party. Nominating idiots like Dole and McCain is pretty strong evidence the label is accurate.
Nobama| 5.5.11 @ 1:53AM
Still, neither was as bad as the disaster in the WH right now.
George S| 5.2.11 @ 10:30AM
How does Bin Laden's demise put food on the table or stave off foreclosure for millions of unemployed Americans? Unless those people are planning not to vote, you possibly may have a point.
SpiralArchitect| 5.2.11 @ 1:03PM
So the Pro B.O. electorate has vanished with the wind? Interesting.
Philip| 5.2.11 @ 10:33AM
Well said, Jeff. Aaron is dreaming...
Philip| 5.2.11 @ 10:33AM
Well said, Jeff. Aaron is dreaming...
Mimi| 5.2.11 @ 10:44AM
In spite of himself...Obama must bask in the accomplisment of the U.SA. CIA, NAVY SEALS, DELTA FORCE....and some pretty darn brave men ...with the nerves of steel to confront in person , The enemy of all enemies. Heh...."O" get those medals out, give them a shine and start handing them out...It one of your JOBS !!
While your at things sir check on Al Zawatsiri...and see what he's up to....and thanks for giving the O.K. to these BRAVE guys....GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Mimi| 5.2.11 @ 10:51AM
SPELL CHECK = al-Zawahri
Star Tripper| 5.2.11 @ 10:53AM
My take is that Bin Laden being dead will make it easier to clear out of Afghanistan and slash the DoD further. I wouldn't be surprised if a deal was made with the Pakistanis for us to take OBL out and then all those Predator flights will stop.
Nobama| 5.5.11 @ 1:57AM
Interesting. Perhaps Obama and Soros offered Pakistan billions of dollars in soon to be plundered Libyan gold.
The Pakistanis gave him up--that's for sure.
Louis Jenkins| 5.2.11 @ 10:57AM
I think Obama's re-election prospect have shot up dramatically. We'll have to see what transpires the next year and a half.
Real American| 5.2.11 @ 10:59AM
Obama made the right call here. He did what ANY PRESIDENT would have done. George W. Bush, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Mitch Daniels, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Donald Trump would have done the same. Unfortunately, Obama has done so many other things that are damaging this country, that'll this act, while important doesn't really separate him from the pack and doesn't erase the terrible policies he's unleashed on this country. Our country is still going bankrupt and he's still not seriously addressing that, he exacerbating it.
Killing Osama was a great thing performed by our intelligence services and military. Apparently, some of the intel came from Gitmo detainees. If Obama had his way, we might not have had that intel. Anyway, killing Osama is not a result of some change in Bush policy. The CIA got some intel and the Seals carried out the plan to take Osama out. There was not grand strategy here.
Obama deserves some credit for making the right call, but that stands out as it's happened so infrequently during his term. But it'll be a mistake if he and his Obot supporters make it about him. It's not about Obama. It's about our country.
simon templar| 5.2.11 @ 11:01AM
Thank you for the typical, usual defeatism. I said to a close freind last night that this would be the republican and conservative response. Too bad it was so late, maybe I could have at least made some money on some bets. Well, too bad huh? Two and half years of effort by the Tea Party, gains on college campuses for pro-life, the new emergence of a conservative media, two dozen scandals revealed about this administration, an economy on the brink of destruction, a third and senseless war front, an historical win in the last election....and you piss it all away. So, now I can expect this communist to get another term to finish the job of destroying the country because he can steal credit for something he did not do. All by a guy that fought tooth and nail against the War on Terror, wanted to shut down GITMO, give US citizen rights to terrorist, wanted to try them on US soil, and did everything he could to undermine Bush's war efforts. Perhaps, this country is too stupid, fickle, and shallow to deserve a Republic.
Bob| 5.2.11 @ 11:07AM
A great victory for the President unlike your bumbling front runner "Scaffold" Romney who wants to play hangman.
Grzmlyk| 5.2.11 @ 11:38AM
To repeat:
Obama deserves 5 percent credit in this whole thing for allowing the operation to continue.
And even at that, he was probably too busy watching basketball or kissing some celebrity's ass or lining up a putt to be bothered to make a decision.
95 percent of the credit belongs to Bush and what's left of our CIA/Special Forces - those few brave souls who aren't tasked with playing patty cake with genocidal murderers who want to slit our throats.
In a sane world, most people would recognize that Obama is a walk-on extra in this movie. It's fitting that his greatest achievement is inaction in the face of an ongoing operation.
But the media will of course insist that he immediately be made the first living saint, that he is a brilliant strategist, an unequaled tactician and a leader so courageous, so fearless, so stalwart, so wise, so glorious, so beneficent, that even George Washington wouldn't be fit to lick his golf shoes.
Of course if Bush had gotten Bin Laden, the headline today would be:
"Bush Stirs Hornet's Nest; Irrelevant and Ill-advised slaughter of Helpless, Surrendering Bin Laden May be Trophy for Idiotic War Criminal in Chief, but Deeply Offends Peaceful Muslims The World Over, Creating Future Terrorists."
There would be a univeral hue and cry to grab Bush and haul him before the World Court at the Hague, try him and hang him for Crimes Against Islam.
simon templar| 5.2.11 @ 11:58AM
Excellent! Yes, and if we remember..how did the state run media deal with the capture of Hussein? The dictator terrorist murderer was presented as a poor old man with his dirty clothes and long beard. His memoirs were published while he sat in his chair reflecting on his past glories and is sincere wishes things could have been different..all he wanted was to do good by his people. Then the media displayed the graphic images of his excecution...thrown these images in our face in attempt to elicit shock, shame, and sympathy. Did you hear hurrays, shouts of jubilation from the progressive media? Oh, such short selective memories. We have already forgot how he and his party did everything short of obvious treason to undermine this War on Terror...US rights to terrorists, trial attempts on US soil, declaring it lost, threats to close GITMO, and on and on ad nauseum. Yes, they did cry that Bush was a international war crime criminal along with his VP. They can not even give Bush any credit now. They even try to diss Clinton because they want to hog it all for their messiah that has now been resurected.
Grzmlyk| 5.2.11 @ 12:56PM
Great points, Simon.
This is no joke - seriously, if Bush had gotten Bin Laden, the headlines would be all about Bush the Bloodthirsty - who only wants to exact personal, sadistic retribution - tracking down an irrelevant, sickly, peaceful Muslim patriot to prop up his failing presidency.
I heard a few sound bites from last night, and I swear to god, the monolithic liberal media was re-energized like a flower in the desert that comes to life after a monsoon. Forget the non-existent recovery, rampant inflation, widespread unemployment, the quadrupling of the deficit in just three years.
Forget the puerile foreign policy.
Proceed with Obama's beatification post haste!
And even Amspec apparently thinks Obama earned his Nobel through this. What the hell has happened to us when a writer at a supposedly conservative Web site comes out with something so utterly fatuous?
Jesus Christ, at this point, I say let the entire country go to hell; let the Marxists fight it out with the Islamists to determine who shall enslave Americans, because a nation that doesn't shame this mainstream media out of existence is a nation of abject, drooling idiots.
We Americans deserve to be serfs of the state or, if fate dictates otherwise, Dhimmis; we're no longer fit for anything else, and we certainly don't deserve the country the founding fathers gave us.
simon templar| 5.2.11 @ 12:09PM
Oh, and let us not forget the SURGE. Years of 'this war is lost' out of your mouths, attempts to defund, attempts to undermine politically, false accusations, false media reports, and on and on. Just what credit did Bush and his General get for turning the war around to victory all the while you shouted Vietnam quagmire? Gee, I remember this General coming back to Washington hearings and being treated like scum, disrespected, and labeled a traitor. My god, a liberal communist does have a short memory. Gee, and now you are all hawks and patriotic and are celebrating the killing of a poor misunderstood Islamist! Remember that rhetoric? The big bad criminal US and that big bad Bush killing and trampling all over the poor mideast and Islam.
Mari| 5.2.11 @ 11:30AM
Sir -- We all remember that Obama wanted more than anything to close Guantanamo and end the aggressive questioning of terrorists there. Early reports say that we found OBL courtesy of aggressiving questioning of Gitmo detainees. This is another Bush victory that Obama is presiding over. Had Obama's wrong-headed inclinations prevailed, OBL would still be alive.
I do think the public knows that.
Ken (Old Texican)| 5.2.11 @ 12:02PM
Aaron,
duh...I don't think you have quite grasped reality yet. Me and fifty million other patriots will not accept our country going down the tubes behind this man. We will NOT!
I don't think he will be able to put fifty million PRODUCERS in jail for not working thus not paying taxes.
In jail we won't be paying taxes.
Andrew Keirns| 5.2.11 @ 12:25PM
Most amazing part of the death of bin Laden: how the Obama Administration kept the NY Times from leaking any of the military intelligence that led up to it.
simon templar| 5.2.11 @ 1:35PM
Yeah, you could of bet that they would have given Osama a heads up if it were Bush.
Kingofthenet| 5.2.11 @ 1:09PM
Rush Limbaugh today is EVEN more Repulsive than normal, he keeps (On Purpose) pretending to confuse 'Osama' with 'Obama' even says stuff like the the military has photos and DNA of Obama's dead, body...Disgusting!
SpiralArchitect| 5.2.11 @ 1:13PM
You are forced through your repulsion of Rush to listen to his program?
The only thing more moronic than that is the location you choose to let everyone know how exactly what a tool you are.
simon templar| 5.2.11 @ 1:33PM
We sincerely Congratulate your Leader for continuing Bush' policies from keeping GITMO open for further interrogations to keeping the ops search started ten years ago to find and kill or capture Osama and also not trying terrorist on US soil. He has done a wonderful job keeping all of the Bush policies and continuing the efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq despite his campaign promises to DO just the opposite. Sincere thanks, the Conservative Movement Of America.
SpiralArchitect| 5.2.11 @ 1:10PM
OBL dumped at sea?
OK, such brilliance.
Obviously a lot of planning and thought went into this part of the plan. Too much to say he has been put to rest in a undisclosed location.
There is a reason he is said to have been left at sea - any photos produced?
This all stinks like a rotten fish.
Kingofthenet| 5.2.11 @ 1:17PM
Here comes the 2011 'Truthers' , time to get out the Tin Foil Hat!
simon templar| 5.2.11 @ 1:54PM
Yeah, they can join up with the 9-11 truthers that claimed Bush was responsible for destroying the TOWERS , starting the War on Terror, and being the first to show that steel can be melted by fire. You left wing nuts invented the tin foil hat.
Dolli Marcos Asaro| 5.2.11 @ 1:53PM
This is not Obama’s win…it is the
CIA-Led SEALs Team. This team was not formed under Obama’s administration.
We all know Obama has kept the George W.
Bush policies. Thank God for brave young men who protect us at the peril of their own lives! God Bless our brave men and women in the military service!
Mimi| 5.2.11 @ 2:23PM
Look folks the "O" is still the "O"....It's somewhat suspicious he sounded like an American last night.....FISHY...God ...from experience we know we can't "TRUST" him...so sad! Time will tell how this will effect the election held 18 months from now.....He will be what he will be....Trust me ! Our PLAN ?....Get a good , conservative, ELECTED to get the country back to snuff!!!
Smirking Weasel| 5.2.11 @ 3:36PM
'Emotional outpouring'?
90% of americans don't care; they're too
worried about their economic existence.
And half of them aren't simply buying
the OBL storyline anyway, to the extent they
consider it.
harry hawkes| 5.3.11 @ 2:04AM
If the demise of OBL had been a Bush-ordered operation the MSM would have screamed "Bush causes woman to be killed in raid on Bin Laden's compound."
dom youngross| 5.3.11 @ 8:31PM
What Mari said.
Icing OBL will be forever associated with the CIA and Navy SEALs. Obama happened to be president at the time. The president who wanted to close Guantanamo, and tried to bribe other countries to take detainees in. And cried over waterboarding. And initially wanted to try KSM in federal court. And...
harry hawkes| 5.3.11 @ 11:14PM
It would have interesting to hear the call Obama made the other night to Bill Clinton about the demise of OBL. I assume 'bama did not tell Bill: "You should have bought him from the Sudanese 15 years ago."