I have heard and seen multiple posts, tweets and comments from conservatives about not politicizing Osama bin Laden's death. Fat chance. The Bush administration politicized every aspect of 9/11 they could, and I'm only waiting for Rudy (a noun, a verb, and 9/11) Giuliani to claim that this is a non-political event. What Rudy has said so far is:
Rudy Giuliani praised President Obama's "courage" for the risky method he chose to take down Osama bin Laden, adding his death is a "significant step" in the war on terror - but saying the tones of jubilation feel strange to him...
He also said former President George W. Bush "deserves tremendous credit. This was only accomplished because we have developed a tremendous apparatus in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is the accumulation of years and years of effort.
Bush, the guy who let Osama get away at Tora Bora, doesn't get credit for this. In point of fact, he
downplayed the need and the method that Obama emphasized this weekend to great effect. That the news last night came on the eighth anniversary of the infamous Mission Accomplished speech was lost on very few in the media (it got mentioned all night on cable.)
More political reaction:
First Read:
First Thoughts: A game-changer
"If we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and we've exhausted all other options, we should take him out”: Here was Obama's answer to the criticism: "Well, you know, to prepare for this debate, I rode in the bumper cars at the [Iowa] state fair." He went on to say, "If we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and we've exhausted all other options, we should take him out before he plans to kill another 3,000 Americans. I think that's common sense." Indeed, Bin Laden’s death is a tacit rebuke of all those who questioned Obama's toughness on foreign policy and bats down the criticism from the right that Obama's rhetoric is too soft (he doesn't say "Global War on Terror!"). Obama supporters will say it proves it's not tough talk that matters -- but rather action.
The Hill:
One New York Democratic lawmaker took a shot at President George W. Bush amid the celebration over the slaying of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
"This is the 'Mission Accomplished' moment President Bush only fantasized about," Rep. Gary Ackerman said on CNN, referencing a 2003 speech by Bush in which he announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq in front of a banner that read "Mission Accomplished."
Garry South, from Politico's Arena:
Put in political terms, it could mean the end of the 2012 campaign. Obama did in three years what George W. Bush, despite all of his "dead or alive" big talk and swagger, couldn't do in seven years. These sorts of presidential moments can't be duplicated by candidates running against an incumbent.
Nate Silver:
To state the obvious, this is good news for Barack Obama’s re-election campaign. I can’t imagine a single, atomized piece of news, foreign or domestic, that would be better for the President.
Although the Republican candidates had not seemed especially interested in making an issue out of national security — perhaps because Mr. Obama’s foreign policy has been fairly hawkish and not clearly differentiated from theirs — it at the very least neuters the issue for them. It presumably will become a significant talking point for the President — the sort of thing that swing voters will be reminded of in a commercial on the eve of the 2012 elections.
The news will also, almost certainly, trigger a significant improvement in Mr. Obama’s approval rating.
The sense in which I’d urge caution is that the former is not equal to the latter. Yes, this is going to help Mr. Obama — to some degree or another — in November 2012. And yes, it’s also going to make Mr. Obama look much more formidable in the near-term.
Greg Sargent:
Birtherism, of course, is only one strand in a larger narrative — including charges that Obama doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism, hates exercising American power, and embraces American decline — that’s designed to sow fears about the true nature of Obama’s real intentions towards our country. This narrative has at times even involved Osama himself — recall the use Osama, 9/11, and terrorism-related imagery to attack Obama, and the “jokes” conflating their names. Amazingly, all this reached its ultimate conclusion with the release of Obama’s long-form certificate, during the very same week when Obama was quite literally putting in place the final details of the plan that finally resulted in Osama’s death.
You couldn’t ask for a more perfect expression of how at odds with reality this storyline — and the media freak-show feeding it — are than that.
Chris Cillizza:
And it’s in times like this one, when the average person is paying attention, that minds tend to get made up about who is up to task — and who isn’t.
(Think back: Is there anyone who doubts that then-Sen. Barack Obama’s steady and sober approach to the financial crisis in the fall of 2008 sealed the election for him?)
That’s why this moment matters — big time.
And
Cillizza again:
Obama as leader: While the work of tracking down and catching bin Laden was a decades-long process that involved three presidents — not to mention thousands of people — it was President Obama who made the order today that put the operation in place that killed bin Laden. It was President Obama who announced bin Laden’s death. It was President Obama who, in his remarks tonight, used the killing of bin Laden as evidence that America can accomplish anything to which it sets its mind.
All of the above — not to mention the surge of patriotism in the wake of bin Laden’s death — will strengthen the image of Obama as a leader. It will also complicate attempts by Republican presidential candidates — at least in the near term — to attack Obama on any topic.
Bottom line is that Obama's political hand has been strengthened. For how long and by how much remains to be seen, but the fallout from this to Obama's benefit will be significant, as will all the images of celebratory crowds on his watch. as a native New Yorker who lost friends when the towers fell, there is a sense - finally - of closure.
And in a similar vein, Republicans trying to turn this into "it's all Bush's doing" are wasting their time. That's a battle that's already been lost.