President Obama’s announcement that the U.S. military has killed Osama Bin Laden was an obvious show-stopper, both literally and figuratively. The world has been waiting for years to have some semblance of hope that our failed War on Terror might be coming to an end. Like the War on Drugs so many years before, our nation seems to repeatedly find itself in the middle of battles that simply cannot be won outright.
Most ironic was the fact that the president’s timing on his announcement of Bin Laden’s death was simply impeccable. Undercutting the morale of Bin Laden supporters was obviously the first objective of this operation. In addition, the president was able to throw a mighty stone and take down several of his domestic political enemies in one fell swoop.
The first blow for the president is the fact that he “just happened” to announce the death of Bin Laden exactly eight years after the infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech delivered by President George W. Bush in 2003. The speech announced the end of all major combat operations in Iraq right after Bush made a publicity-grabbing arrested landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. The moment became one of several sore points of the Bush presidency, for all of us know that this was just the beginning as it pertained to our little adventure in Iraq.
WATCH NBC NEWS COVERAGE OF OBAMA’S ANNOUNCEMENT:
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The second coup d’état for President Obama involves his latest Republican enemy, “the great” Donald Trump. Trump has spent the last several weeks hunting down President Obama’s past with as much furor as the CIA had in chasing Bin Laden himself. Obama first struck down Trump’s conspiracy theories by releasing his long-form birth certificate. As if that weren’t enough, he then roasted him like a piece of chicken at the Correspondents Dinner this weekend, joking about the fact that Trump’s next great mission will be to find the whereabouts of Biggie and Tupac.
But out-trumping Trump would have to go deeper than simply ridiculing him in public. Some would say that there is a direct incentive to hit him where it hurts. Whether it is coincidental or not, President Obama’s decision to announce the Bin Laden finding http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/05/01/osama-bin-laden-dead/”>right in the middle of a highly-rated episode of Celebrity Apprentice is nothing short of scandalously debilitating.
If you recall, Sunday night’s episode was the one where Nene Leakes and Star Jones were set to go at it in one of those ‘let’s watch the angry black women fight’ episodes that millions of viewers love to see. The show is one of Trump’s prized financial assets, this was his big night and his advertisers are likely calling him to get multi-million dollar refunds. Even Nene vs. Star won’t sell more tickets than Obama vs. Osama.
So, this has been a great week for President Obama. His declining poll numbers will likely see a boost due to his most recent accomplishment. The president will also sleep well, knowing that he’s put several major adversaries to bed. At this point, Trump will either come out swinging like never before, or he will walk away with his tail between his legs. Either way, Obama has proven that he was certainly smart enough to get into Harvard.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the initiator of the National Conversation on Race. For more information, please visit BoyceWatkins.com>