With that said, good on him. He did the right thing, and if he enjoys some political benefit in the short term, so be it. But the hyperbolic descriptions of Obama's every action are just so tiresome.
If it is Obama, then it is all about him and personal considerations. The decision was to use a standoff weapon and blow up the compound with the distinct possibility that he would not get political credit for killing OBL because it would be hard to prove. He chose the more dangerous alternative for him politically but also the one with the greatest reward.
If the Mission became a Desert One, Jimmy Carter like failure, no one would ever know about it publicly except that we were going after high value targets. We have been using drones in Pakistan all along, but since this was in the midst of an urban area, the story would be that we did it this way to save innocent life.
IMO Obama elected the Seal Team route because it offered him the best political opportunity to reap a reward based on a risk/reward assessment. Forget about the fact that it put our people carrying out the mission in greater danger. Obama was willing to take that risk (with their lives) so he could obtain a much greater political benefit. It worked out.
The problme with Obama trying to take all of the credit is that if there is a follow-on, large scale terrorist attack against us, it will largely negate the benefit because the public will question his ability to protect us at home and abroad. November 2012 is a long way off.
“But the hyperbolic descriptions of Obama’s every action are just so tiresome.”
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Fine, but his Communist and racist machinations are indeed destroying the American ideal, which is indeed, the last great hope of mankind.
It is hard to be hyperbolic about that.