Obama's bin Laden ad is tacky but effective
Barb ShellyCount me among those who recoil a bit at the Obama campaign’s ad “One Chance” ad.
It’s rolling along, with former POTUS Bill Clinton soberly talking about the weightiness of the decision about whether to go and get Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, when no one was entirely sure bin Laden was indeed in Pakistan.
Then, about 40 second in, you see the words, “Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?” and the ad makes an abrupt shift from a message about statesmanship to a harsh political attack.
Personally, I would have preferred the Obama campaign had stuck with the statesmanship. We are observing, after all, not only the one-year anniversary of the assassination of bin Laden, but also a look back at all he wrought, including the deaths of 3,000 people in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. It’s a somber occasion and should be treated as such.
But I also don’t see why anyone should feign shock and indignation at this ad. Republicans have been falsely accusing Obama of being soft on defense and security since the day he took office. Reminding the public that Romney once expressed doubts about the wisdom of seeking out bin Laden is payback, tit for tat, whatever. It’s politics and this is a political season.
If nothing else, the ad should reassure people about Obama’s willingness to engage in combat of the political sort.
You can find the ad just about anywhere oin the Internet, including with this piece by the Christian Science Monitor, which gives some context to the controversy.
Steven Fetter
66223
1 year agoI have no problem with Obama touting himself for the successful mission to assassinate the psychopath Bin Laden. I commend him for the drone attacks, and continuing the Patriot Act among others Bush measures.
I do have a problem with the liberal base, like yourself, that now says this “combat of the political sort” is justified and reassuring to all that Mr. Obama is one tough guy.
The left excoriated Bush for his prosecuting of the wars, The only difference I see is that his torture victims are still alive, playing soccer in Gitmo. Mr. Obama’s drone targets are dead, with the assorted collateral damage of wives, kids, neighbors. Again, I have no problem with this. Do you?
The only conclusion I can reach is that the feigned outrage during the Bush years were hatred of Bush, not of war.
Phil Cardarella
1 year agoFYI: What we “lefties” excoriated W for was lying us into an unnecessary war, and then prosecuting it so ineptly. Read “Fiasco”. And we took the position that he did not prosecute the war in Afganistan to a successful conclusion when that was possible because he had fixated (and planned to use resources) on Iraq.
I.E., we told the truth.
Love the Biden idea for a bumper sticker:
“Bin Laden Dead, General Moters Alive.”
Mark Hastert
1 year agoWhat’s troubling about Mitten’s assurances that of course he would have ordered the raid is the way he was dithering the entire time he was saying it. The way Mitt flip-flops Bin Ladin would have died of old age before Romney made up his mind.
Kent Mueller
1 year agoBarb, so you are now ok with tackiness on the part of a sitting president?
And please, Barb, put Romney’s 2007 remarks into context. Isn’t that what journalist are supposed to do? Romney was saying that it wouldn’t be wise to make bin Laden the one, central target and therefor the measuring stick for success. I think most would agree with that sentiment.
Yesterday, Obama himself disputed the ad and what Clinton had to say. Obama said “I said that I’d go after bin Laden if we had a clear shot at him, and I did. …” Clear shot? That’s not how Clinton described it. You don’t agonize about the downside if it is, as Obama said, a clear shot.
At any rate, Barb has now said that playing politics is an admirable presidential attribute.
Brandon Lewis
1 year ago…regardless of how hard you try, the credit to take out Ben Laden must be given to our Commander in Chief, President of these United States, Barrack Hussein Obama.
It was under his watch that an elite group of American troops killed Laden. There wasn’t much effort on the Bush administration to capture al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.
Remember, President Bush said, and I quote “I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority.” —Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002
Remember those words?
Steven Fetter
66223
1 year agoThe celebration continues tonight, live from Afganistan.
And as previously stated, I will rejoice in bin Laden’s demise. I hope the people that criticized Bush for serving Thanksgiving dinners to the troops as a political stunt will join us.
Kent Mueller
1 year agoBrandon, care to put Bush’s comment into context? Geez. Just as with Romney’s comment, the point was to not make bin Laden’s death the measure of victory. The war was much bigger than one person. If you think either Romney or Bush would not have pulled the trigger on bin Laden, then, well….then that would be crazy to think.
I agree that Obama gets some credit, but to run an ad taking credit the way he did was ridiculous. Also very unbecoming of a sitting president.
It’s OK to quote Bush, but please remember to put context to the excerpt you choose to print.
Brandon Lewis
1 year agoI’m glad we have a president that has the ability to multitask. We needed a president that could focus on this one man(Osama) as well as his network while making sure that our soldiers are well-supplied, keeping the strategy clear and the coalition strong.
Bush looked for Osama, could not find him, gave up on looking and moved on to other important matters. Thus he repeated his comments: “. I — I’ll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him”
At WhiteHouse.gov I found the context:
Q Mr. President, in your speeches now you rarely talk or mention Osama bin Laden. Why is that? Also, can you tell the American people if you have any more information, if you know if he is dead or alive? Final part — deep in your heart, don’t you truly believe that until you find out if he is dead or alive, you won’t really eliminate the threat of —
THE PRESIDENT: Deep in my heart I know the man is on the run, if he’s alive at all. Who knows if he’s hiding in some cave or not; we haven’t heard from him in a long time. And the idea of focusing on one person is — really indicates to me people don’t understand the scope of the mission.
Terror is bigger than one person. And he’s just — he’s a person who’s now been marginalized. His network, his host government has been destroyed. He’s the ultimate parasite who found weakness, exploited it, and met his match. He is — as I mentioned in my speech, I do mention the fact that this is a fellow who is willing to commit youngsters to their death and he, himself, tries to hide — if, in fact, he’s hiding at all.
So I don’t know where he is. You know, I just don’t spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you. I’m more worried about making sure that our soldiers are well-supplied; that the strategy is clear; that the coalition is strong; that when we find enemy bunched up like we did in Shahikot Mountains, that the military has all the support it needs to go in and do the job, which they did.
Q But don’t you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won’t truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, as I say, we haven’t heard much from him … I — I’ll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him.
Is that the context you’re talking about?
George Hunsucker
Northland
1 year agoYou are sooooooooooooooooo right Brandon. This president is multi-tasking. He is holding the most fund raisers of any President, leading in the growth of food stamp usage and of course tossing the economy into the crapper… Yep, one multi-tasking dude, jimmy II.
Kent Mueller
1 year agoBrandon…he made the point very clear. The death of bin Laden was not the measure of victory. He was right. That was never the measure until Obama tried to make it so, after the fact. It seems like you are obsessing with the fact that Bush wasn’t obsessing.
Any reading of the facts shows that Bush oversaw the building of the infrastructure that found bin Laden and then struck and killed him. Obama gets credit for not dismantling the infrastructure that had been built and then giving the OK when bin Laden was found. Your attempt to conjure up this image of Obama multitasking with more tentacles than an octopus is quite amusing.
The SEALS are the ones that killed bin Laden. Obama making an ad to step in front of them to take credit is quite unseemly.
Brandon Lewis
1 year agoGo back and listen to President Obama’s remarks over the past year. He is always giving credit to the Seals. You can Google or you tube that information.
If Bush could have found and killed Osama he would have and been celebrating each day from that point forward. Fireworks, parties, Republicans love fest, Osama picnics. He would have found a ship to stand on with a banner behind him reading ‘Mission Accomplished’. Bush, Chaney, and Rumsfeld would have been all over Faux News like a cancer tooting their horn on ‘How we saved the World” You know exactly what I’m talking about.
So, for our President to mention the 1 year anniversary of Osama’s death is only a reminder who is our Commander in Chief and the steps he’ll take to make America safe.
Kent, don’t try to make this to be more than what it is, a President, up for re-election, reminding America of one of his greatest achievements. You would do the same.
God Bless America and God Bless the President of these United States
Kent Mueller
1 year agoBrandon..two things.
First, I love how you say Obama mentioned the killing. Mentioned. Oh, just mentioned. Was this a casual mentioning? Did he kind of mention it in passing? Mention. That is a pretty soft word to describe a full length internet ad taking full credit for himself. Yeah, he just mentioned, it.
Secondly, it is amazing how many times people on the left seem to know the right so well that they consistently put words into the mouths of those on the right. I’m sure you know exactly what Bush, etc. would have done. Exactly. That’s why you say it. Because you know.
You call the ad a mention. Even Barb says it was tacky. And for Barb to say that about Obama pretty much underlines it.
Brandon Lewis
1 year agoone year after the fact is a ‘mention’ …remember Bush’s 2004 campaign at every instance Bush and Cheney (and let’s not forget dear Rudy G.) citing September 11 in campaign ad after campaign ad and I don’t remember hearing a ringing media chorus of “is this appropriate?”
In this discussion, you’re giving weight to Barb?
Kent, we both are old enough to understand politics. We both know left, right, liberal, conservative and we both have opinions and thoughts. Is that a blank stare I see?
Kent Mueller
1 year agoYou refer to a blank stare? As I “mentioned”, you did what many on the left do, and is you put many words into Bush’s mouth. And now you have done another thing frequently done by the left. You found a way to say that I am really not all that smart. A blank stare? Why is it that you get personal?
And there was a lot of criticism in 2004. You think Bush could do anything without being criticized by the media that is dominated by your side of the isle?
Brandon Lewis
1 year agoOk, Kent. I didn’t realize that you were so sensitive. I will keep personal comments at bay.
President Obama re-elected in 2012!
Kent Mueller
1 year agoOh, Mark, my feelings don’t get hurt very easily if that is what you meant by sensitive. However, I am civil, though.