Unfortunately for President Obama, many refuse to judge his performance as commander-in-chief outside of the prism of, “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
Despite the death of the world’s most infamous terrorist being carefully orchestrated under his watch, some people still haven’t managed to give Obama the credit he deserves.
WATCH THEGRIO’S GOLDIE TAYLOR DISCUSS OBAMA’S APPROVAL RATING
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He has enjoyed a slight bump in the polls — with 57 percent of Americans now approving of President Obama’s job performance according to a new New York Times/CBS News poll.
Click here to view a slideshow of Obama paying his respects at ground zero
However, after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 planned by Osama bin Laden President Bush netted almost 100 percent approval ratings.
Of course, with a much more sour economy and bin Laden’s waning influence in both media and active terrorism you can understand why some people’s heads are elsewhere.
But, the country has just added more than 200,000 jobs this month while the previous president saw declines of close to 700,000 during his final days in office. That coupled with news of the death of arguably the biggest symbolism of anti-American terrorism should have more Americans a lot more excited about the news.
Yet, judging by some responses from conservatives you would think instead of Navy SEALS shot Santa Clause above the left eye than bin Laden.
Rush Limbaugh might have fixed his mouth to actually offer Obama a compliment but not a minute later did he downplay the importance of the Pakistani raid that led to bin Laden’s death.
Joining in him bratty responses is fellow talk show host Laura Ingraham, who instead of simply saying, “Way to go, Mr. O” proceeded to unleash a diatribe about how the big bad and presumably biased media would have never given President Bush this much credit for such an operation. And Ingraham tweeted (regarding the official statement on bin Laden’s death): “Did Obama WH wait to announce on anniv of Bush ‘Mission Accomplished’?!”
More disturbing than their predictable lack of enthusiasm is the insinuation that Obama is exploiting this monumental moment in the war on terrorism for political gain. You know, as if the Republicans had a viable candidate for 2012 anyway.
Leading the charge on such lunacy is the village idiot of news himself, Glenn Beck.
Branding Obama’s trip to ground zero as “disgusting” and “a political victory lap,” the soon-to-be-ex Fox News host said Bush declined Obama’s proposal because, “I would think that maybe it’s because you would need hand sanitizer afterwards because you’d feel so slimy after doing this.”
So we’re just going to pretend that Bush didn’t exploit 9/11 to push a totally unrelated war in Iraq? The same war that resulted in Bush prematurely standing behind a banner bearing the phrase, “Mission: Accomplished,” on the USS Abraham Lincoln to declare the end of major combat? A declaration he made after landing on an aircraft carrier, no less.
Only months after declaring to want bin Laden “dead or alive,” former President Bush soon changed his stance to “I am truly not that concerned about him.”
Meanwhile, at the second presidential debate on October 7, 2008, then Senator Obama said, “We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaida. That has to be our biggest national security priority.”
Why are we debating who deserves more credit for the death of Osama bin Laden again?
What more does Obama have to do? Get Jesus to show his birth certificate this time and assure the dimwits of the world that Mohammad wasn’t being called upon in the deliver room?
While political bickering was certainly going to happen, it’s disappointing to see it happen so soon and in such pathetic ways.
No matter what his last few fans have to say, Bush is the last person we ought to be feeling sorry for. He has coasted on his privileges his entire life, leaving behind people like President Obama to clean up the messes he leaves after he moves on.
This is just another instance of such and at this point if nothing convinces some of Republicans of that, perhaps nothing will.