He's milking it. President Obama wants his Osama bounce to last and he's going to do everything he can to make it happen. I don't blame him - politically it's a smart thing to do to keep the public image of himself as one capable of dealing with those international crises in a tough but pragmatic way. After all, positioning it is merely words. Rhetoric. Just don't blame me for calling him on it.
In an article from AP, outlining some key highlights from the recent 60 Minutes interview with the President, Obama positions the Bin Laden raid as risky but necessary. In other words, 'I made the tough decision' because I'm tough;
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama says he knew that sending special forces in helicopters to get Osama bin Laden at his Pakistan compound was risky, but he felt it was the best way to make sure they had their man.
In an interview aired Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes," the president said he thought it was very important to be able to be sure.
"In some ways, sending in choppers and actually putting our guys on the ground entailed some greater risks than some other options," Obama said. "I thought it was important, though, for us to be able to say that we'd definitely got the guy."
He said he also wanted to avoid "collateral damage" in a residential neighbourhood.
So we are to believe that President Obama actually had a choice in going ahead with the raid. That (1) a drone strike was a viable option that was dismissed by him (it wasn't viable) and (2) a decision to not go ahead was viable (it would have been political suicide had it come out before 2012). Oh, okay. I get it.
He had no choice, he had to do it, OH-BLAH-BLAH is an imposter.
ReplyDeleteHe's certainly not presidential, so imposter is a reasonably valid adjective.
ReplyDeleteMean, scornful, partisan, weak. Those are good adjectives too.