(Fred Prouser/Reuters)
From Karl Rove's
latest Wall Street Journal op-ed:
As for the killing of Osama bin Laden, Mr. Obama did what virtually any commander in chief would have done in the same situation. Even President Bill Clinton says in the film “that’s the call I would have made.” For this to be portrayed as the epic achievement of the first term tells you how bare the White House cupboards are.
The film in question is the Obama campaign's 17-minute video on the accomplishments of his first three years in office. And if you believe Rove, the video itself dismisses the magnitude of the decision President Obama made.
Greg Sargent, however, didn't take Karl Rove's word for it. He went back and watched the video and surprise, surprise, President Clinton didn't say what Karl Rove said he said. In fact, says Sargent, Rove erased a critical part of what President Clinton said.
“He took the harder and the more honorable path. When I saw what had happened, I thought to myself, `I hope that’s the call I would have made.’”
What a difference the full quote makes, right? Clinton, in fact, was saying the exact opposite of what Rove claimed he had said. Unfortunately for Rove, this campaign isn't just like an Etch-A-Sketch. He can't just erase the parts that he doesn't like and rewrite them to his own liking. But that doesn't mean he won't try, as David Axelrod points out:
If these are the games Rove is going to play in his column, imagine what we can expect in his Crossroads ads! (6/6)
— @davidaxelrod via Twitter for Mac
Meanwhile, we'll respond with the truth. Like reminding Rove of his own administration's
tragic failure to bring Osama bin Laden to justice:
And reminding him that in 2008, John McCain
disagreed with Barack Obama's strategy for getting bin Laden—the strategy that ultimately worked, nearly a decade after Bush and Rove's failure. (Mitt Romney was on John McCain's side,
by the way.)
But this isn't just about giving President Obama credit for bringing Osama bin Laden to justice. There's a lot of history that Rove, Romney, & Co. are going to try to erase between now and election day. It's the only way they can win.