The Macho Democrat

[Babylonsister]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-s...archive12#

The Macho Democrat

by Michael Tomasky
Newsweek/Daily Beast Special Correspondent Michael Tomasky is also editor of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas.

Obama looks unbeatable now—but the GOP sees weak spots. In this week’s Newsweek, Michael Tomasky on the political advantage gained by the president’s national security “scalp”.




snip//

But now, the killing of Osama bin Laden is changing this equation dramatically. Alleged Muslim Barack Obama did in two and a half years what Bush couldn’t do in seven and a half. It wasn’t just the result. The nature of the operation is still breathtaking, weeks later, and the risk Obama took, which he conveyed with masterful cool in his 60 Minutes interview, is mind-blowing (imagine if bin Laden hadn’t been there!). You can call the president who oversaw the operation many things, but weak isn’t one of them.

Watching some Republicans’ first stabs at responding to the event was both sad and hilarious. Some were gracious (even Dick Cheney), but the propaganda machine and its envoys cranked out the usual bluster. They tried the this-proves-that-torture-works argument, pinned to a slender reed involving a man named Abu Faraj al-Libi, but the known facts don’t support the contention that torture played a major role. Then Bush administration torture-policy architect John Yoo played against type by asserting that it was cowardly to kill bin Laden rather than taking him alive. Things finally reached self-parody when Andrew Card of the Bush White House (the one that declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq roughly 4,200 fatalities ago) snarked that Obama was pounding his chest too much.

Absurd. But Democrats need to avoid becoming cocky. Republicans will not give up their narrative of liberal weakness so easily. Over the coming weeks, the GOP is likely to strike back on three fronts.

snip//

Of course a terrorist attack on U.S. soil would change everything in an instant. But for now, Obama is perched on a pedestal with a prize—a scalp—no Republican can wrest from his hands. “For years and years,” an administration official told me, “Democrats have wondered about how you look tough on national security. Turns out the way you look tough is by being good at it.”

[Cha]

I love Tomasky..thanks for this, Babylonsister!

The Democrats actually do the real work..the gop couldn't even be bothered to attack the right country to get bin laden..they went the extra mile in lying about Iraq. Going so far as to out Valerie Plame because she and her husband, Joe Wilson, were on to that dick cheney.

[azmouse]

I love that pic of the President. He looks pretty dang pleased with himself, and he should be!

[Born_A_Truman]

Wouldn't want to play poker with Barack Obama.

[sandnsea]

Not to pick nits, but it was just a little over 2 years and 3 months. And if you give the guy a couple months to deal with the financial meltdown while changing the strategy to get bin Laden, it was probably less than two years.

[RoyGBiv]

(05-17-2011 09:24 PM)sandnsea Wrote:  Not to pick nits, but it was just a little over 2 years and 3 months. And if you give the guy a couple months to deal with the financial meltdown while changing the strategy to get bin Laden, it was probably less than two years.

I think the nit is a little bigger than that actually.

If we cast our minds back to the first year of Obama's administration, Republicans were actively working against him getting the intelligence agencies staffed properly. There was a severe lack of translators, and many of the necessary managerial positions, responsible for organizing all this information, were not staffed.

Obama changed various things that started working toward this end the day he took office, but it wasn't until late 2009/early 2010 that things really got going. So, I'd put it at more like a year to a year and a half and in the face of political opposition from Republicans.

I understand that Obama doesn't want to make this as partisan as he could, so I'll look the other way while he refuses to do so, but that doesn't stop me. Republicans actively tried to prevent this from happening. They even stated it in internal position papers early in the administration -- that they wanted to avoid doing anything that would allow Obama a foreign policy victory.

[Cha]

(05-17-2011 09:59 PM)RoyGBiv Wrote:  

(05-17-2011 09:24 PM)sandnsea Wrote:  Not to pick nits, but it was just a little over 2 years and 3 months. And if you give the guy a couple months to deal with the financial meltdown while changing the strategy to get bin Laden, it was probably less than two years.

I think the nit is a little bigger than that actually.

If we cast our minds back to the first year of Obama's administration, Republicans were actively working against him getting the intelligence agencies staffed properly. There was a severe lack of translators, and many of the necessary managerial positions, responsible for organizing all this information, were not staffed.

Obama changed various things that started working toward this end the day he took office, but it wasn't until late 2009/early 2010 that things really got going. So, I'd put it at more like a year to a year and a half and in the face of political opposition from Republicans.

I understand that Obama doesn't want to make this as partisan as he could, so I'll look the other way while he refuses to do so, but that doesn't stop me. Republicans actively tried to prevent this from happening. They even stated it in internal position papers early in the administration -- that they wanted to avoid doing anything that would allow Obama a foreign policy victory.

I didn't know the details of what you just reported but I do know that the republicons would lie, cheat, and steal to prevent anything positive getting out about President Obama..and, his getting bin laden hurts them almost as much as it did bin laden, imv. That's how insanely jealous they are.

[nofurylike]

thank you for posting this, Babylonsister.
thanks, all, for the informative replies, too.

[NJMaverick]

That's what the media failed to appreciate. The OBL "bump" may not last but the idea that President Obama is weak is dead forever.

[Julie]

Indeed, the President showed the big, tough-talking Republicans how you do it. You just do it. You don't need an aircraft carrier, a war rally and a fake cod piece.

Julie