The death of Osama Bin Laden is much more of a figurative victory for the United States than one which has any actual effect on Al Qaeda; this is not to diminish its importance but to put it in perspective. Bin Laden had not been actively running the organization for some years now and served as little more than a figurehead. As a criminal he was still very important, and thus a certain degree of justice has been done.
For Obama, this is a great political victory. I couldn't help but chuckle while listening to the Morning Joe podcast as someone proclaimed that this event transcended politics. I can assure you it does not. While this may be a way of uniting the country under a single banner for a week or so (more on the pros and cons of that to come), Obama must be sure to put his stamp on this very quickly, with his late hour speech being a good first step. To put it bluntly, I find those like the man on Morning Joe, who believe that this is not political or that there are "no winners and losers" in this (aside from the recently departed, who clearly is not a winner) to be naive. Whether this is due to not understanding the situation or simply wishful thinking remains to be seen.
What this does do for the President is take away the idea of Mr. Obama (and Democrats in general) as weak on national security. This seems ironic as, despite what you may hear for commentators and politicians, in no practical way does this make us safer. But in politics (especially in this country) it is usually appearance that matters, and Mr. Obama's poll numbers will certainly benefit because of it. How he decides to capitalize on it is up to him and his team.
Another reoccurring theme that has been heard this last day is the fight on terror is not over, and that we must remain vigilant to defeat terrorism. How does one do this? How do you fight against and ideology? I would imagine we could kill all the members of Al Qaeda and this would still not stop people from committing terrorist acts. The question becomes what defines victory in this 'fight'? Is some kind of victory achievable? I believe that not only is an absolute victory unattainable, but our current methods of prosecuting this fight are having the opposite effect and actually galvanizing extremists. If our goal is to eliminate Al Qaeda and take out Bin Laden, why are we in Afghanistan spending billions of dollars and hundreds of lives, that is not accomplishing said mission? It is my hope that this recent success will give Mr. Obama the courage to re-think his strategy in Afghanistan.
And finally, also interesting was the variety of posts that were read as I perused the various social media; some written by colleagues others by commentators. One argument that I saw repeatedly, especially from the left, was the idea that killing is never justified and that we should not glorify death. Does the killing of a criminal make you feel better? Well yes, I could see how it does. While I personally do not have the desire march in the streets at the death of a person around the world, I can see how others might feel this way. Hate is a strong emotion, one that has been as prevalent as love throughout our history as a species. And while I see where some have a longing for everyone to love one another, I do not share in this view. Life (politics especially) is conflict and division, and this will never change. This is not a self fulfilling prophecy it is simply a fact of human nature. And while this does not mean that I have a desire to run out and kill those I have a disagreement's with (I certainly don't), I also have no desire to hold hands and sing kumbaya either. And indeed, if Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck were to be killed, I might be inclined to raise a glass and think upon it fondly, if only to myself. That is human nature; lets stop pretending otherwise.