By now, we’ve all heard the new whisper campaign. “President Obama deserves credit for following the Bush policies that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden.”
The fact is, that is pure CRAP.
The worst possible nightmare to Republican leaders, would be that traditional conservative voters might no longer believe that they are the party of national security. Should that happen, their base would collapse. So, when the threat of Osama bin Laden was eliminated by a Democratic president, the spinmeisters went to work immediately. They can’t exactly reclaim the title, so they settled for the next-best thing; try to force president Obama to share the credit with George W. Bush.
It’s only been 36 hours since the news of the bin Laden operation was announced, yet I’ve already heard the “Bush gets some of the credit too” meme by at least a half-dozen high-level Republicans. Rush Limbaugh said it on his show, Andy Card said it, as have John Boehner, Condoleeza Rice, Sean Hannity and Eric Cantor. This CAN’T be a coincidence. Someone (most likely Karl Rove), sent the word out to give Obama credit, but be sure to slip in the line “And we thank him for following president Bush’s policies.”
Here are some facts: In October 2001, while the pile of rubble was still smoldering at Ground Zero, President Bush made the decision to send the CIA into Afghanistan before the military (a decision I supported, by the way). The plan was, that after they had paved the way with their intel work, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would follow up at once with his obligation to send in the bulk of the troops. But he was upset that he had been upstaged by George Tenet’s CIA, so he was uncooperative. The CIA waited a full 30 days before Rumsfeld’s reinforcements arrived. Rumsfeld was taking it personally that the CIA would get the glory, and his hissy-fit wasted valuable time. Additionally, when we finally had Osama bin Laden cornered in Tora Bora, president Bush outsourced the job of capturing him to Afghan warlords (gosh, in the most corrupt country on earth, what could possibly go wrong there)? The Afghans were either bought off by bin Laden’s men, or they simply looked the other way. Whatever their motives were, they gladly accepted the money the Bush administration gave them, and Osama bin Laden slipped away into the night… and lived in luxury for an additional nine and a half years!
Adding insult to injury, George Bush and his cadre of neocons soon ignored what was happening in Afghanistan, and shifted their focus towards their original prize, Iraq. And the rest is history. Afghanistan, the stepchild war, languished as the Pentagon dumped $1 trillion+ and 4,425 lives into removing Saddam.
Somebody, please indicate to me which part of this “policy” the current president followed?
Candidate Barack Obama swore before the American people on October 7, 2008 that he would kill or capture Osama bin Laden. The reaction from the right was widespread laughter. They painted him as too inexperienced, too weak, and most importantly, too un-American. After all, how could a guy whose middle name was Hussein, possibly be tough on terror?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxZHSArs_Qc
Well, he kept his word, unlike George Bush, who in eight years, achieved absolutely nothing. And now that Public Enemy #1 is dead, the Republicans would have you to believe that the invisible guiding hand behind president Obama’s success came from George W. Bush. Don’t you believe it.
There are hundreds of people who deserve recognition for dispatching Osama bin Laden, but George W. Bush isn’t one of them. Beginning with the remarkable Navy SEALS Team 6, who pulled off one of the most spectacular operations since Entebbe. I regret is that we as a nation can’t thank them to their faces, as their continued success requires anonymity. But it is my hope that one of them might read this article, and know how utterly awe-struck the nation is by what they’ve accomplished. And of course, the balance of the credit goes to president Obama, for both keeping his campaign promise, and reducing the threat from al Qaeda. He put his presidency on the line, just as surely as the SEALS put their lives on the line. That was raw courage — something else we haven’t seen in a decade.
And lastly, Over the past two and a half years, president Obama has pointed out several times; “We didn’t create this war/economy/environment, we inherited it,” which is true. And without any hesitation, the canned Republican response is; “George Bush isn’t president anymore, you are. This is all your baby now.”
Yes it is. And as unpleasant as it is that the wars, the economy and the environment ARE now Obama’s baby, so too is what happened Sunday night. George W. Bush no more deserves a soupçon of credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden, than he does for being an Ace fighter pilot during the Vietnam War.
Caleb, Bill Clinton admitted PERSONALLY that he tried, but failed to get bin Laden (Google his interview with Chris Wallace). And that’s the whole point, is it not? Truthfulness in what efforts were made to get him?
It was under Clinton’s administration that the CIA formed the anti-bin Laden team, Alec Station, and it was under Bush’s administration that it was dissolved, because as Bush himself said, “To tell you the truth, I just don’t think about him all that much.”
Now we can continue to go back farther and farther in time to try to assign blame on one man or another, but these are the facts: Clinton tried to get him, but failed, and has said as much. Bush (sort of) tried to get him, but got distracted by the shiny object known as Iraq, and failed miserably. Obama tried to get him, and GOT him, yet Bush STILL wants some of the credit for the kill. Why not give the Chinese some credit while we’re at it? They did after all invent gunpowder, and the SEALs would have never killed him had it not been for that. Pretty stinkin’ silly, if you ask me.
This is *history* Caleb, not Spin City.
The offer of the box of Tide still stands.
No problem, the credit is all Obama’s. So this means that with unemployment still above 9%, the housing market still in the dumper, and the debt ceiling reached, those are now Obama’s too, right? No, “I inherited these problems from the last president,” with election season coming up, right? Right?
Caleb, that’s right! To the point that the economy is Obama’s responsibility, there is no question of that: He inherited a mess, which is true, and if he fails to clean it up, that will be HIS problem, not George Bush’s.
But allow me to demonstrate to you where your comment gets murky.
During the years when Nancy Pelosi was the Speaker of the House, she oversaw some of the most fiscally responsible, and economically successful negotiations in decades. And since last fall, when Boehner took the gavel, he promised to reverse the trend of jobs disappearing. But curiously, there hasn’t been a single jobs bill passed… just union busting, anti-abortion measures, and incredibly, anti-women and anti-NPR and Public Broadcasting bills.
So I ask you Caleb, where are the jobs? Boehner promised us that jobs would be “Job One.” Who knew at the time that he was talking about HIS job? So try as you might to blame the president for the back-story of this horrible economy, that’s just not the whole story.
Thanks though, for playing our game. You will receive one box of Tide.
You are right, both sides of the aisle need to be blamed because politicians in general are worthless, Papsmear and Boner being perfect examples. My point was only that as a president there is a statute of limitations for blaming the previous president for the failings of a current administration. How about I take you bit farther back in time to prove my point? Bush was not allowed to blame Slick Willy for not killing Bin Laden on two separate occasions during his 8 year tenure. The Twin Tower attack occurred on Bush’s watch. Don’t think for a moment a single Democrat didn’t line up to blame the daylights out of Bush who hadn’t even completed a year of his first term. How far into Obama’s term are we? We are still hearing how tough he has it because of Bush.
Thank you for playing. You can have your Tide back.
Caleb, if you please. Explain where this timeline is flawed:
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/06/10/what-a-party/#comment-7699
“”"”"During the years when Nancy Pelosi was the Speaker of the House, she oversaw some of the most fiscally responsible, and economically successful negotiations in decades.”"”"”
What???? You have GOT TO BE JOKING, right? Wow. That’s the biggest fabrication of a lie that I have EVER seen. Pelosi was speaker from ’07 until this year and the numbers work extremely against her. Dems ran on spending in ’06 and then turned their backs on everyone the moment they got into office. BOTH PARTIES ARE IN CAHOOTS. LEARN THAT BY NOW!!!!!
Paul, front & center, if you please. During the years between 2001 and 2007, George W. Bush didn’t veto a single Republican spending bill. Not ONE. When Nancy Pelosi took the gavel in 2007, her record for fiscal responsibility may not have been stingy, but it was FAR better than during those previous six years.
And keep another thing in mind Paul; no bill becomes law without the president’s signature. If what you claim is true, that the Pelosi Congress is in any way responsible for our economic problems… THEN WHY DID BUSH SIGN THEM?
You can’t have it both ways, pal. The economy tanked under Bush, IN SPITE OF a Democratic held congress, not BECAUSE OF one. If what you’re claiming is true, then I suppose you agree with me that today’s Boehner controlled Congress is responsible for the 9.1% unemployment rate?
Thought so.
Reagan, Greenspan, Larry Summers, Clinton, Brooksley Born – Look them up. If you know ANYTHING about the economics of this country, then you’d know that Bush was not responsible for the economic collapse. He was responsible for out of control spending, two stupid wars, the bullshit patriot act, but that’s about it… The problem with Obama (and with all of these goons of both parties) is they listen to people like Bernanke. When you truly understand who’s the real enemy to the American economy, things will become a lot clearer.
Yeah Paul, I know all about it. (I was watching!)
So, if Bush took our national debt from $5 trillion in 2001 to $11.6 trillion in 2009, never vetoed a single Republican spending bill, and signed every pork-laden bill that crossed his desk, the majority of which were written by Republicans… How is that Nancy Pelosi’s fault again? I must have missed that part.
Now if you want to include the housing bubble, you’ll have a valid point. But you didn’t.
@Rhonda…Your reasoning, if you can call it that, is unfounded and therefore, untrue. It is based on subjective conjecturing that is also typical of the anti-Obama cadre of lunatics spin-masters. I’ve always heard that is is better to just be quiet and be thought a dam fool, rather than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. You just broke the rule. Please stop doing it, and tell your lunatic fringe group to stop as well. Otherwise the men in the white coats are going to come get you. And, as you well know, your Republicans looney friends, have cut funding for mental health, and there’s no place to put you. We’ve got enough of your kind walking the streets already.
Wow just WOW… we are told this was the culmination of a 4 year investigation of leads and Obama has been president for 2 years now… but ALL of the credit is his… Bush deserves none… OK, thats what I thought too. You pure politics… Every republican I have heard has given Obama the credit he deserves, but that is not enough, Obama put this team together himself according to his speech, but the timeline tells the story… Bush put the team together and all Obama did was not disassemble it Lucky for us he broke many of the promises made on the campaign trail.. Seems to me like maybe he was spouting some confidential information and using it for politcal gain when he advertised he was going to go get him in Pakistan, but what do I know.
Every time someone says Obama inherited this bad economy from Bush the cons say Bush isn’t president anymore. They want to put it all on Obama. Now something good happens under Obama and now its we have to give Bush credit. As usual they want it both ways. Its was Obama that gave the operation the go and it is Obama that would have taken the blame if it failed. Obama got Bin ladin and Bush didn’t. Live with it and give him the credit.
Nice point..the failed economy is Obama’s fault, and the bin Laden even is Bushe’s.
Nice point..the failed economy is Obama’s fault, and the bin Laden even is Bush’s.
Jeff, the president asked CIA Director Panetta to put the dispatching of Osama bin Laden at the very top of his priority list immediately after he appointing him to the position. Just to remind you, George W. Bush DISBANDED the Osama bin Laden team within the CIA back in 2005 — the very year Osama bin Laden moved into his posh new digs in Abbottabad. Coincidence? I think not. Your comment; “We are told this was the culmination of a 4 year investigation” is partially true… but that agenda was within the halls of the CIA, and NOT upon orders of (then) president, George W. Bush. In fact, it was contrary to what Bush wanted! At that time, there WAS NO official White House plan to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. If you “were told” otherwise by Fox News, then that might explain your confusion. Their agenda since Sunday night has been to reign in their shocked viewers, by telling them bald-faced lies. And if they told you this, then add that to the list.
George Bush & his failed policies had absolutely ~NOTHING~ to do with the killing of Osama bin Laden. In fact, had he focused on him instead of wandering into Iraq, the history of the past ten years would have been very different. But he didn’t. So for his apologists to now try to claim some of the credit is absurd. The deed was done by our magnificent SEALs, upon orders by the current Commander in Chief; Barack Obama, with intelligence accumulated by our agents in the field, and hundreds of desk jockeys in Langley. Obama succeeded where Bush failed. The sooner you accept this, the better you’ll sleep.
Of course Obama didn’t do this alone. No leader of something over the size of a duet does anything alone – we know it and they know it. And splitting the hairs of everything that is said is a waste of time. Calling people names in this forum for their opinion is a waste of time and makes you look like an ass to me, even if I agree with you about the rest of what you are saying. And even though I was sick that he was our president, the possibility that something Bush or his team started may have eventually helped lead to this is possible (not everyone that pulled his strings were idiots). If you say it is not possible, then nothing Obama and his team does can ever carry over to the next administration, we’d loose those bragging rights. How can anyone, except those really in the thick of things, know this or even be able to analyze this possibility?
I’m glad bin Laden is gone – think this world is a better place without him. Hope this doesn’t lead to more or worse problems, but it does seem like he HAD to go – just don’t like the revenge-rejoicing going on. That is part of the same emotional set of extremism that led those fanatics to guide the jets in to the Towers and the Pentagon. Before someone bends my words, I’m not saying it IS the same thing, I’m saying that seeking revenge is for people who hate, and hate is the last thing we need right now. And please don’t get juvy on me and, “well, don’t you hate terrorism.” If you don’t know what I’m getting at then you are just spreading something almost as bad as hate by commenting further.
Joel, for the most part, I think your remarks are splendid. In fact, I agree with 95%. I won’t go into the “Bush gets credit” thing again (see Jeff, elsewhere on this thread), but my reason for replying to your comment is to correct one thing: the jubilation we saw on TV last Sunday night was NOT revenge. It was justice. In fact, it was justice delayed on a massive scale. For fifteen years, this country had been after that S.O.B. And for the past ten of those years, we had a gaping wound that wouldn’t heal. The cheers and shouts may have been distasteful to many, but I completely understand it. This was like the best and longest episode of a Perry Mason murder case, multiplied by 3,000 decedents and a decade of detective work. I say, let them celebrate.
Bruce – thanks, and you too are correct – it was justice and people deserver to celebrate its fulfillment; no doubt about it.
And I’d like to add that while I appreciate the deeper meaning behind our ability to actually have discourse/debate/arguments like we are all having in this forum, I think we do all of our leaders a disservice by buying in to all of this media hype and the ultra-scrutinizing without access to the facts, And we do this to the leaders we like and the ones we don’t – so therefore kinda screw ourselves out of the unadorned truth.
What those under the control of people like bin Laden (and even leaders that aren’t as bad as he was) don’t get, or maybe don’t have access to, is the fact that we get to have these conversations WITHOUT GOVERNMENT RETALIATION. We get to complain about our leaders and live to see another day. This was most striking to me during the Gulf War when a deployed soldier was filmed by some news agency talking about how he didn’t agree with our reason for being there. But he was serving his country, following orders, and also lived to see another day. Then there’s the “subtlety” that our government probably had the ability to sensor this footage, but didn’t, sure that’s lost to those that need to GET IT too.
Screw freedom of religion, ya’ll – freedom of speech has got you covered.
I guess I feel more comfortable saying that I believe it is entirely possible that some of the work that lead to bin Laden’s death could have very likely been started during the previous administration, in spite of Bush. That is probably the closest to the truth we’ll get any time soon, and maybe that’s good enough.
Rhonda, thank you for enlightening us all; not about Obama & Bin Laden, but as to what an asshole you are…
Rhonda- so right! Obama would never do this on his own!
Alessa,
Wow you’re bright. No president does anything alone; that’s why he has a cabinet and advisors.
Panetta forced Obama’s hand. Obama was being bullied by Jarrett to abandon the hit. The only reason Obama went along with the kill was because he was informed of the imminent strike by Panetta, who along with Clinton, arranged the whole thing without Obama’s knowledge. Obama knew of Bin Laden’s location in August, but pussy footed around so much, he pissed Hilary off. Obama would acquiesce, Jarrett would pull him aside, Obama would put it off. Happened repeatedly. Look at the situation room pictures. Obama’s in a golf jacket. He was interrupted at golf. Do you think Obama would have wanted to be dressed in that fashion knowing he was going to be photographed at such a momentous occasion? Obama had no choice but to follow through to save his political neck. The American people would have screamed for his head if he had lost Bin Laden. Obama isn’t the type to make a decision like this one, and we all know it. Which Obama will the public believe? The Obama on the eve of Bin laden’s death, describing his military prowess and relentless pursuit of Islamic terrorists? Or the real Obama, appeaser to the world, co-opting other’s efforts and making them his own. Like he did in Illinois when he presented legislation written by others as his own, because he lacked the fortitude or wisdom to write his own bills? I’m happy Bin Laden is dead. I don’t care who ordered it. But Obama has stuck his foot in it now. He will brag about this to gain election favor, but he better be careful. He has to keep his story straight and believable, without the actual benefit of true memory. The truth will catch up to him. I wonder if his ego will win over his ineptitude? This is going to be interesting.
Sure Rhonda. We will all take your word for it. You show us no proof of what your saying but what the hell. We will just believe you. So go back to your right wing rag websites and soak in more hate and mis information about president Obama.
Gosh Rhonda, I’m not sure what to say. You’re either the most imaginative satirist on the planet, or you haven’t had your Prozac today. And all this, just by looking at a golf jacket. Brilliant!
Wow, what insight. Did a fly on a Whitehouse wall tell you this? You right-wingers should get out of politics and become fiction or mystery writers with all your lies, fantasies and shadowy conspiracies. You’re very imaginative, like children.
Poor Rhonda, it must suck that Bush/Cheney couldn’t get Bin Laden in 7 1/2 years and Obama gets him in 2 1/2. If you think Obama would allow decisions by others to jeopardize his presidency and re-election, you’re nuts.
“If you think Obama would allow decisions by others to jeopardize his presidency and re-election, you’re nuts.”
I think she’s already established that Lisa. :)
Whether it was ARMY SF or Team 6, we know it wasn’t YOU, Paul.
@Paul your an idiot
I would bet good money Team 6 didn’t do this. People need to stop giving those clowns credit for shit they didn’t do. They already enjoy reading their own press clippings too much. Do you really think they would tell the general public it was the Seals, if the Seals actually did it?
Paul, I think you may be on to something! I’m hearing it was Team SMURF that took out Osama bin Laden. You know how modest those little blue dudes are, right? It all fits together.
You have to know when the exact same quotes come from different members of the cabal that someone is organizing the “me too” strategy for Dubya. Wasn’t he the one who said he couldn’t care less where Osama Bin Laden was? That was blatantly obvious. when he invaded Iraq. It’s too late for a do-over.
The intelligence analysts and operatives that got the information locating and confirming as well as possible that we did indeed know where bin Laden was are quite important and deserve credit as well. Obama put good lieutenants in that got the operation from conception to completion. The right wingers like to say Obama made it all about him but he was quite clear to put the actual credit to the team. That is what good managers do; they look good by making their team look good.
”So I don’t know where he is. You know, I just don’t spend that much time on him …” — George W. Bush, March 13, 2002
One thing that I’d love to see explored further:
The potential that this operation could have turned into “Black Hawk Down 2″ or another Desert One.
You can bet the entire Federal Budget that if this operation had gone sour, the entire failure would have been pinned on President Obama, and the calls for his impeachment would have begun.
That, my friends, is why ordering this operation was extremely courageous, and…dare I say…took BALLS!
Bravo – I especially like the morons who say this is not a victory for obama – well he has never taken credit – instead saying it is a USA victory
I could not have said it better myself! Thank you President Obama and Seal Team Six!