printIncredibly, some Republican Party media megaphones have been making the case that Bush deserves credit for the actions of Obama in eliminating Osama bin Laden. There is something particularity rank about this tack. It is one thing to credit the operatives in the field, but quite another to commend a far-removed gas bag like Genghis Bush with the kill. That is if you support what some are calling an extra-judicial killing. A Gallup survey indicates that “More than 9 in 10 Americans approve of the U.S. military action that killed Osama bin Laden on Sunday.”
What will it take for certain Republicans to give credit where credit is due? Would BHO need to switch parties (a minor ideological conversion, really).
The same Gallup poll shows, however, that, “Thirty-five percent say he deserves a great deal of credit and another 36% say he deserves ‘a moderate amount’ of credit. More than a quarter say he does not deserve much or any credit at all.”
This is probably a function of the general antipathy toward Obama’s policies, and not an objective assessment of the operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Rest assured that if something had gone wrong, the sitting president would have been blamed. “Former President Jimmy Carter knows about that,” notes the Huffington Post. “In 1980, Carter approved a plan to rescue the American hostages in Iran that ended in failure and left eight American servicemen dead. The botched mission was cited as one factor in Carter’s defeat when he ran for re-election.”
The attempt to drag Bush into this says something about the convergence of the two parties on matters of foreign policy. Obama has “embraced his inner neocon.” As a consequence, Republicans have few bones to pick with the president on the foreign policy front. What remains in their bag of political tricks is to make hay of his exotic origins (birth certificate), or to claim that his predecessor paved the way for (what they perceive to be) his recent success.
In any event, Bush’s military signature is the Daisy Cutter.
At age 15, I campaigned for the New York Conservative Party and I was one of the few Young Republicans at college. However, even then, I was turned off by “the President” (by 1972, one didn’t refer to Nixon by name as if he were Jehovah) and actually wrote-in Barry Goldwater.
Nearly 40 years later, I don’t know what to say conservatism consists of. Gimmicks, political posturing, plutocracy, a smattering of racism and religious intolerance, just cultural aversion to a hack from left wing upbringing like Obama – I don’t know – but there is very little coherence. The bailouts, socialized medicine, warmongering, and deficits trumpeted under Dubya now get occasionally denounced under Obama but what can anyone make of it?
Frankly, what passes for Republican Conservatism these days is a somewhat senile
opposition movement that is so brain dead as to do any damage to any real classical small government political movement. Things would be better if the Republican Party declared (mental) bankruptcy and disbanded and allowed people like Ron Paul and Gary Johnson to try to make a real “liberty” coalition.
Osama’s assassination is a circus side show largely irrelevant to the lives of Americans.
Ilana, well said. As a Bush supporter i feel we are pushing the envelope on GW credit. Both Presidents deserve some credit but the men and women that pulled this off deserve the most. It took so many at all levels. It is to them I give credit and thanks.
I thought it a bit ironic that Obama announced on May 1, 2011, the death of Bin Laden, the anniversary of Bush’s famous ‘Mission Accomplished’ carrier landing and speech from 2003.
If Bush really wanted to get Bin Laden, he sure as hell wasn’t gone to do it in Iraq. So I am not willing to give Bush credit. He had his chances, but spent his search in another part of the globe.
As to the current subject, what I am seeing from the conservatives is support for the president for the actions he took but also credit for Bush for initiating the intel that was used to find bin Laden. Without the interrogations, including water boarding, that was approved by the Bush administration, Zero would not have had the intel to find bin Laden. Bush congratulated Obama for the kill and stays out of his way in not messing with what is going on, something I wish our other ex-presidents would do. I think the least Obama could do was admit that the Bush intel approach was what led to the find, and that includes Gitmo. What is funny is that Obama in his very brief stint as senator went out of his way to kick and scream about these same intel approaches and now he is trying to take credit for them. Kinda makes you wonder.
There are so many varied and conflicting stories coming out of the very mismanaged administration on this subject that one wonders what the final story will be. At the present moment that is for sure up for grabsl with this crew. The one that makes most sense is that Panetta ran this and then brought Obama in at the last moment when it was too late for him to mismanage it.
[The banter with which you prefaced your letter was removed. BAB doesn’t publish lies about the host (the person who pays the bill). You publish here on private property. We like good manners here too. Read your host’s work before you call her, baselessly, a big government type.—IM]
For the families that lost their relatives the question of who deserves more credit for bin Laden’s death is irrelevant. It’s mainly a certain kind of satisfaction for the terrible days they had to experience on 9/11 and after.
All right I’ll admit it I voted for Bush over the alternatives. However, this need to give Bush credit for the success of the operation is more than a bit overdone. The guys who deserve the credit are the Navy Seals.
BTW I must say I’m darkly amused by the Bamster’s “victory tour” after claiming “we don’t spike the ball”.
In reference to your other blog about the talents of the Navy Seals, I knew a few guys when I was growing up who had the same characteristics as Avner (the Israeli scout in your story).
As an adolesent I was on the very outer edge of the population you describe (reasonably good at several things) but I didn’t not have the leadership skills or confidence required to really filt into that population. For example, I was the 12yr old kid who had the physical skills to play quarterback but wanted not part of it. I didn’t have the confidence to call the plays and lead the team. I was perfectly fine playing running back or wide receiver to do my best to execute the plays the quaterback called.
To this day I have taken the so called technical engineering path instead of the management path. Both the company and I are better off for it!