Posted on 10/28/2012 5:42:33 PM PDT by markomalley
Much has been made of President Obama’s considerable use of the pronoun “I” on the night he announced to the nation the killing of Osama bin Laden. As Mark Bowden notes in his recently published account of the killing and the decision-making that led up to the operation, The Finish, the president was not shy about putting himself front and center when it came to the decision to proceed with the operation: “I directed Leon Panetta … I was briefed … I met repeatedly with my national security team … I determined … and authorized … Today at my direction.”
While a bit over the top when it comes to the “me” factor, nevertheless, the president is indeed commander in chief and, under the Constitution, with its unitary executive, he is, as the text of that document asserts, the sole holder of “the executive power.” Unlike many of the state constitutions of the time, the national executive authority was not divided among various state office holders nor as under the Articles of Confederation—the country’s first federal constitution—was it in the hands of the national assembly. So, whether critics of the president liked his rhetoric or not, whether they felt it was unseemly or not, it wasn’t out of bounds from a constitutional perspective.
Now, the founders thought the “unitary executive” was necessary because it provided two distinct but complementary institutional qualities: decisiveness and responsibility. In times of emergency, one man could act more quickly than many and one man, whose decision it was to act, could be judged for that decision more clearly by Congress and the nation than a muddle of decision makers. One only has to remember the now iconic picture relayed around the nation and the world the next day of the president, surrounded by aides, the vice president and the secretary of state, intently watching the feed from an overhead drone in the White House situation room as the operation against bin Laden’s compound went down to understand the role the president plays in such matters.
Of course, that was then.
There are no pictures of the president watching a live feed from the drone that was above Benghazi the night Ambassador Stevens was killed. There are no pictures of the president monitoring the hours-long assault on the American diplomatic compounds there or the resulting firefight between the Islamists militia and U.S. security guards, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, both of whom were killed early in the morning of September 12.
What we do have are reports that U.S. commandos, gunships, and other specialized forces were moved into position to come to the Americans’ assistance. Now, putting aside the fact that such deployments do not normally occur without the highest level of consultation within an administration, what we don’t know is who made the ultimate decision not to deploy those forces into Benghazi. Did the president? If he did, what reasons can he give to justify the decision to keep from sending those forces in? It might even have been the right decision but we will not know that until we have a clearer picture of when he was informed, what he was told, how he stayed informed, and when and why he gave the order to stand down.
But the very fact that the White House and the administration have been reluctant to provide this information (and, indeed, seem to be passing the buck on who did what and when) raises another possibility: that the president was not carrying out his responsibilities as commander in chief. Yet whether distracted by the upcoming election, calls to the Israeli prime minister, or prepping for a fundraiser the next day in Las Vegas, presidents don’t get to delegate that power, even to a secretary of defense. So, the night of September 11 comes down to this: was the president in charge—or not? The Constitution makes it clear, he must be.
maybe he was partying and too out of it to handle the decision
obama was watching espn, on the phone with netanyahu, and then had incoming call from reggie.
Compare to thr OBL photo op. where are the pm photos? There was a previously scheduled meeting with Penetta.
Obama ordered to do all they can. Penetta didn’t comply?
Remember, folks, he’s only playing the part of president. He was put in as a politically-correct biracial coverboy for an agenda of destroying the U.S. and her allies.
Question to Mr Panetta; Who’s the Bull-Crapper now?
TRANSCRIPT: Presidential debate on foreign policy at Lynn University
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/22/transcript-presidential-debate-on-foreign-policy-at-lynn-university/
Obama “Now with respect to Libya, as I indicated in the last debate, when we received that phone call, I immediately made sure that, number one, that we did everything we could to secure those Americans who were still in harm’s way;”
Answer for Mr Panetta; Obama didn’t say “we did everything we could to secure those Americans who were still in harm’s way” in the last (2nd) debate as he stated in the Lynn (3rd) debate;
Transcript of Second Presidential Debate
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/16/transcript-second-presidential-debate/
OBAMA: “So as soon as we found out that the Benghazi consulate was being overrun, I was on the phone with my national security team and I gave them three instructions.
Number one, beef up our security and procedures, not just in Libya, but at every embassy and consulate in the region.
Number two, investigate exactly what happened, regardless of where the facts lead us, to make sure folks are held accountable and it doesn’t happen again.
And number three, we are going to find out who did this and we’re going to hunt them down, because one of the things that I’ve said throughout my presidency is when folks mess with Americans, we go after them.”
Heads, “I” win; tails, Hillary loses.
Uh, why didn't you find this out WHILE it was going on, Mr."President", and why didn't you "allow" us to go after "them" AT THE TIME?
I'm beginning to think that the "President" was simply limp in a crisis and didn't know WHAT to do. People died, and everyone around Obama is covering up the "President"'s incompetence.
This was happening in real time, over several hours. When a house is on fire, you don't wait until it burns to the ground and then send in arson investigators. You call the fire department. And you don't tell the fire department to "stand down until it's over".
My thoughts exactly. He looked to be on drugs during the first debate. I have commented before, we do NOT want a commander in chief who is intoxicated making life and death decisions.
Unfortunately neither Hillary, Panetta, nor Obama was in charge (except in name only) during the attack at Benghaza (good news). The folks at the site took charge and saved everyone they could!
The bad news is that even if any of them were in charge (in reality), the outcome would have been much worse.
I choose “NOT” for $1000, Alex!
He really intended to say that, but Valery Jarret told him to stand down.
She did it twice with the BenLaden operation, and he stood down.
Bump!
Hey, Barry! That dead old white man, President Harry S. Truman, was 100% correct: The buck stops here [POTUS]. If you refused to help Ambassador Stevens, his people and those at the CIA “annex” in Benghazi, you are guilty of dereliction of duty and negligent homicide. You are totally unfit to be even a community organizer — whatever THAT is — and certainly NOT President of the United States.
I agree it was Valerie and Michelle that said no. No risk to your reelection campaign with even a remote possibility of it going bad and "innocents" being killed. When our troops call for help, stiff arm them and listen to the girls say, "too risky for our man."
This is what our foreign policy would be like with a girl as president!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.