By Igor Volsky
Mitt Romney campaign co-chair and former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu accused President Obama of waiting too long to order the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, in an interview with the New York Times that was published on Saturday.
Sununu said that Obama was timid, could have gone after the terrorist mastermind sooner, and attributed the successful operation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:
The president is trying to take credit for following the strategy and the tactics put into place by George W. Bush. At some point the president is going to have to explain why he was timid on the first two or three opportunities that we had. Thank goodness Hillary Clinton was there was to convince him to do the right thing. [...] His trying to take credit for having been decisive belies the fact that he wasnt decisive until pressed by others.
But former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served in both the Bush and Obama administrations, described Obamas decision to order the raid that killed Osama bin Laden gutsy, saying that people dont realize what a tough call it was and not everyone would have made the same call. Vice President Biden and Gates both advised Obama against taking the course he chose on the bin Laden raid, noting that There wasnt any direct evidence that he was there. It was all circumstantial.
More: Top Romney Adviser Criticizes Obama For Not Killing Bin Laden Fast Enough
