I’ve been wanting to write about the rhetorical overkill deployed by this administration when it comes to touting the president’s decision to kill bin Laden. I mean, is this really something only Barack Obama had the singular courage to do? Really? A Republican president wouldn’t have killed bin Laden under similar circumstances? But I was also reluctant because, yes, the president deserves praise for doing it and there are so few things I find praiseworthy in his agenda, better to focus on the things that revolve around fundamental disagreements. But this is just beyond the pale.
Joe Biden calls Obama’s action against Bin Laden, “the boldest decision … any president has undertaken on a single event in modern history.”
Seriously? Of course, “modern history” is a relative term, so presumably he’s excluding the Emancipation Proclamation or Truman’s decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But how about Gerald Ford’s pardon of Nixon? Or Bush’s surge?
And of course, boldness doesn’t necessary depend on success. Carter’s botched mission to rescue the hostages was certainly bolder. So was Kennedy’s Bay of Pigs. Indeed, given what a loose cannon Joe Biden is, Obama’s decision to pick him as a running mate might even be bolder.
Video here. There’s a lot more to say, but I’ve got to head out for a few.