Obama getting Osama was an event of high drama and much will be made of the immediate effect on national pride, national security, Afghanistan policy, relations with Pakistan, and the future of the war on terrorism. There is another more subtle impact that will play out in the future. One to watch carefully is the changing perception of the character of Obama. The GOP had worked hard to paint Obama as a dithering professor who analyzed options to death and could not be decisive on the big issues of the day, though they conceded dismissively he was likable and could make great speeches. They made a point of questioning whether he was an effective leader at every opportunity they could, whether it was taking the initiative in coming up with a plan to reduce the deficit or going after Gadhafi. The Democrats called him the adult in the room above the petty and nasty partisan squabbles of a severely divided country and Congress. GOP appeared to win the definition war until May 1.
Obama may have not landed in the helicopter, risked his life in a shoot out, but he participated in the planning, gave the kill order and the order to proceed and watched the raid unfold in real time.The impact on 2012 will not be one of painting Obama as the nation’s hero; it will be his newly defined stature as a gutsy, effective leader and the chaos it will throw into the GOP’s ability to come up with candidates of comparable talents who will be touting their poorly received deficit reduction plans. Their candidates will have to butt heads with the Democrats’ less draconian and fairer plans for the economy and a public noticing a weak but improving jobs picture. The burden will now be on the GOP to redefine themselves.
I believe most would agree that Obama made a decision that reflects well on him. We all know he didn't plan the event but he chose a military option given to him by the true planners and he gave the go signal. The real heros in this event are those Special Operators sent in to complete, with precision, a brilliantly planned military action. I am thankful that Barack Obama made the correct choice. One of the first lessons one must learn is taking far less stock in a single great military event. Winston Churchill was kicked out of office less that two months after Nazi Germany surrendered. Obama has, at best, finally created a political foundation for his foreign policy that he may be able to build upon. This single event does little to improve how the majority of our nation feels about that foreign policy. We also know by the Muslim world's reaction he has even less favor overseas today than he had last week. The state of our economy at the time of the 2012 election will dictate Obama's lot.
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