For the WBK War: Several things at once, most are in our favor. The symbolic loss will hit al Qaeda hard, without a doubt. They are weaker tonight. However, the new al Qaeda leader – Ayman al-Zawahiri – actually had larger ambitions (the entire planet) than OBL (the Middle East and Central Asia). Leadership moves from the financier to a fellow with operational experience. That said, al-Z’s piece of al Q (the Egyptian Islamic Jihad) was backed by Iran when it assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, so odds are al-Z will be more willing to work with the mullahcracy. That, in the end, may be the game changer that wins this for us – by making it clear that Tehran is neck-deep in the WBK War.
For American politics: Congratulations, Mr. President; your re-election was just assured. Your new political floor is 52%. Your performance in office tells me you’ll hit that floor often, and will probably be on it come next November, but 52% is still a win (the Congressional elections are an entirely different matter; don’t expect to win back the House or hold the Senate; the numbers on the latter are heavily against the Dems).
[...] Cross-posted to RWL [...]
” don’t expect to win back the House or hold the Senate; the numbers on the latter are heavily against the Dems).”
Oh Contraire!
that’s clearly BEFORE “we want to kill Medicare and Social Security” message!
and not to mention the fact that Republicans have managed to P.O. – blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, Gays & Lesbians, Women, Unions, Teachers, etc….
I think youse guys are genetically wired to run into walls……
Americans may be more attacks by terrorist ,special who oversea .So Please pay more attention to safety
I disagree that OBL’s discovery and execution assures President Obama’s reelection.
I think it certainly can’t hurt, but I don’t think it’ll be decisive, just because I can’t imagine that Obama did anything meaningfully differently with regard to hunting and capturing/killing Osama than Bush would have done in a 3rd term, that McCain would have done, that Hillary Clinton would have done, or that any prospective GOP nominee in 2012 (Romney/Pawlenty/Daniels/etc.) would have done.
OBL was Public Enemy #1 on Planet Earth. This happened on Obama’s watch because of some combination of OBL getting sloppy, us getting lucky, and/or our military, intelligence and diplomatic services being wonderful at their jobs on the operational level. Mostly the third, I like to believe.
Obama is transparently trying to take credit, because that’s what politicians do, but I think most of the public will see through that eventually. He approved the operation to get OBL once he was found, but there are about 300 million Americans that would have made the same call.
Finally, one should note that this has happened very long before November 2012. At about this same point on the calendar in 1991, George H. Bush had just won the Gulf War and had an 89% approval rating. Then he got 37% of the vote in November 1992.
[...] right-wing liberal predicts a win for Obama in 2012 and more losses for Democrats in Congress in Bin Laden is Dead: What that means. Also has something to say about [...]
[...] If so, many of the assumptions surrounding 2012 in the Middle East and the United States will go by the boards (yes, even this one). [...]
[...] If so, many of the assumptions surrounding 2012 in the Middle East and the United States will go by the boards (yes, even this one). [...]