Osama and Obama

I have three comments on the final event of bringing Osama Bin Laden to justice.


#1 - The President is not Jimmy Carter - During the 2008 election a lot of the President's detractors argued that Obama and Carter had similar qualities.   While neither had legitimate foreign policy experience.  I believe that can probably be laid to rest.  There is still a legitimate concern that as the recent article in the New Yorker (the Consequentialist by Ryan Lizza) argued the President tends to lead from behind and his foreign policy is often confused.   But as Commander In Chief, the President should get the credit for capturing Bin Laden on his watch.


#2 -  While the President deserves credit the military deserves thanks - Almost immediately after the President's announcement a number of my democratic friends put posts up which said we should thank the President - almost as if he had flown to Pakistan to lead the raid.   The people we should thank here are the military.  I am sure that had Bin Laden been dispatched during the Bush years, those same people would have ignored the role of the president and perhaps even the military.


#3 - It is unclear what this event means to reducing the influence of terrorists in the world.  Some of the knowledge necessary to lead the raid may well have come from Guantanamo detainees.  Even with that the role of Obama in the terrorists may have already passed. (That does not mean he should not have been pursued.)    President Bush, in a gracious statement after he was informed of the raid commented “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done.”   But the mutation that caused Bin Laden to become such an important figure in the world of terrorism remains.  The harder job is what to do next.