Obama has nearly decimated al Qaeda: Why doesn't he brag about it?

[rdean]

By Michael Tomasky

Obama’s Missing Bravado

Obama has nearly decimated al Qaeda. Why doesn’t he brag about it? Michael Tomasky on liberals’ squeamishness at thumping their chests—and the endless victory lap that Bush would have taken.

The immediate political question raised by the successful drone attack that took out Anwar al-Awlaki is simple. How much credit will Barack Obama get for this? He ordered renewed drone attacks in Yemen earlier this year, and now, we see clear results. But I doubt Obama will derive much political benefit, for one obvious reason and one reason that is less obvious but that reflects something more enduring in our political culture.

When that SEAL team nailed Osama bin Laden, Obama got about a five-point bounce out of it, but it washed away as quickly as a wave on a beach. The conventional wisdom said, well, it’s the economy. People are more concerned about the unemployment rate. It also happened as the debt-ceiling crisis was starting to build, and Washington was more obsessed with it. So the conventional wisdom wasn’t necessarily wrong.

But it also wasn’t the whole story. The fuller explanation reflects differences in the emotional and psychological make-up of liberals and conservatives. Conservatives are far more eager to thump their chests about these things. Liberals, from Obama to Hillary Clinton to the liberal foreign-policy gurus at the think tanks to your average person, find it a little unseemly.

More: Obama’s Missing Bravado

Obama is a quiet warrior...

He's not a Republican. They brag and they can't name a single thing they have to be proud of.

 

[Warrior102]

Obama - Warmongering Cowboy Chickenhawk.

Bush II on steroids.

How's his ass taste RDean?

 

[NYcarbineer]

"No brag, just fact."

(a super trivia question for you. where did that catch phrase come from? ...without googling...

...hint, if you're not O L D , forget it)

 

[NYcarbineer]

Funny the Right didn't bitch when Zarqawi got a bomb dropped on his head in Iraq in 2006.

 

[Intense]

Obama could turn water into wine, flax into gold, pollution into clean air, desert into excellent farmland - he could even walk on water, and the losers in 2008 would still complain. I hope he realizes it is not a healthy and great America the right wing wants, they just want power back, nothing more.

Nah. We didn't even lose to Obama. We lost to McCain. Obama was just an Aftershock.

 

[Intense]

They like it when women are shackled while giving birth.

It just fun for them to treat "gods children" like animals

Your Generalizations are what get you into trouble.

 

[Lakhota]

On Day Obama Gets Awlaki, Fox And Friends Says He’s Too Weak On Terror | ThinkProgress

 

[Dot Com]

On Day Obama Gets Awlaki, Fox And Friends Says He’s Too Weak On Terror | ThinkProgress

Fox & Friends is basically the crown jewel of Rightie, partisan programming.

 

[Intense]

On Day Obama Gets Awlaki, Fox And Friends Says He’s Too Weak On Terror | ThinkProgress

Fox & Friends is basically the gem of their GOPTV productions.

Funny, for as much as you trash them, they blow all of the competition away.

 

[Stephanie]

On Day Obama Gets Awlaki, Fox And Friends Says He’s Too Weak On Terror | ThinkProgress

I wonder if thinkprogess needs a tissue?
waaaaaaaa waaaaaaaaaa, they aren't bowing down to the Obama, like we on the LEFT did with Bush when he said, mission accomplished.

man you are a real joke.

 

[Katzndogz]

Is this going to get obama anything close to reelection? No.

 

[Charles_Main]

Facts? The Fact is Bush killed Thousands of Al Qaeda in 7 years, Including Many Top Leaders.

Now you Liberals are actually going to sit here and try and give Obama all the credit for "devastating" Al Qaeda.

Priceless, You people have no shame.

 

[Intense]

Is this going to get obama anything close to reelection? No.

It's Early in the cycle still.

 

[Intense]

Facts? The Fact is Bush killed Thousands of Al Qaeda in 7 years, Including Many Top Leaders.

Now you Liberals are actually going to sit here and try and give Obama all the credit for "devastating" Al Qaeda.

Priceless, You people have no shame.

Nor reason.

 

[rdean]

Obama - Warmongering Cowboy Chickenhawk.

Bush II on steroids.

How's his ass taste RDean?

I'm sorry you're sad about Bin Laden. Considering the damage Republicans have done to this country, especially the last 10 years, I always suspected, but wasn't sure, which side they are on. I've got the message now, loud and clear.

 

[Chris]

Obama has done all the things Bush couldn't do.

Why?

Because he is smarter than Bush.

 

[Rinata]

"The Republican Party has been adrift when it comes to national security for several years now, and the hollowness of its rhetoric becomes more apparent with each success President Obama has on keeping America safe.

After correcting many of the mistakes made by the previous administration, including the Bush administration's errors and neglect in the fight against Al Qaeda, the Obama administration on balance has achieved important gains, including this latest one in Yemen. The days when the perceived Republican dominance on security and defense issues are over".


Brian Katulis, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

Very nicely put!!!!

 

[bigrebnc1775]

If obama was trying to decimated al Qaeda why did he give them aid in libya?

 

[bigrebnc1775]

Obama has done all the things Bush couldn't do.

Why?

Because he is smarter than Bush.

obama is still doing the samew thing bush did, I don't get it though three years ago the left wanted bush gone and even booed him at the inagural but now everything bush did and you hated obama is doing and you cheer him for it.

 

[Rinata]

One thing I totally dislike about conservatives is that I think they are bad sports. When a Democrat becomes president, conservatives refuse to acknowledge their accomplishments. It happened with Clinton amnd it is happening with Obama.

Obama Not Getting Credit for Foreign Policy Successes

Obama Not Getting Credit for Foreign Policy Successes