Obama Approval Likely To Bounce
To me, the most momentous phrase in the American lexicon is when a friend calls up and says some version of, "Turn on your television... to any channel." What made last night different, though, was that the news was not bad.
Sunday's White House announcement did more than any long form birth certificate to convince many ordinary voters that Barack Obama is precisely the kind of leader that makes them proud to be an American.
Goodman looks like a man born to be mayor of Las Vegas. His desk and floor-to-ceiling shelves are packed with memorabilia of the town, from life-sized showgirls to mayoral poker chips. It's public office, as designed by TGI Fridays.
Less than a week ago, Obama was showing us his birth certificate. This is a man who kept cool through all this clatter and nonsense, knowing he had other work to do.
It's a shame it takes a tragedy of the magnitude of 9/11 or the death of a murderer for us to find common ground. While I know today's shared joy will be fleeting and tomorrow's grind will shake us back to reality, it will fuel the optimist in me for years to come.
During the 2008 presidential election campaign, the GOP hit plan on Obama was simple: pound him as soft on the war on terrorism. But Obama moved quickly to counter the fable.
Can Osama's death ever be a true victory when so many don't even seem to comprehend the magnitude of what has been lost along the way? Or even what the future might hold? Was it all worth it?
Regardless of how active bin Laden has been in the day-to-day operations of the terror organization he founded, what is clear is that the world has scored a major victory.
Rightly or wrongly, what now seems to be an endless questioning of the legitimacy of national leaders as newsworthy is taking its toll.
The Republicans, by including such broad restrictions on all King and Spalding employees, shot themselves in the foot -- even if the Human Rights Campaign wants to take credit for pulling the trigger.
We declared two wars to target Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. They were in Afghanistan and Iraq. We killed bin Laden in Pakistan. Bottom line -- endless war didn't work.
If we had shared intelligence with Pakistan, the chances that it would not have leaked are about zero. Pakistan knows that, just as it knows that the palaver about friendship is meant to conceal as much as it reveals. We're all in on the wink.
Once again the U.S. House plans to take another whack Tuesday at defunding Obamacare -- although the Senate and White House are poised to protect the funding.
Let us not sink into a false sense of triumphalism in the wake of Bin Laden's passing. His death will only have meaning if it marks the beginning of the end of this ruthless cycle of violence.
As more details of Bin Laden's life "in hiding" take shape, we may find ourselves with more questions than answers.
President Obama may finally earn his Nobel Peace Prize, and concomitantly help move the country from the near-ruination of a war economy to the stable prosperity of a long-awaited peace dividend.
In 10 years of war, young, wide-eyed recruits have become grizzled veterans, and very few events would seem to let them feel we are making true progress. For our troops, last night offers a morale boost.
Unfortunately, the importance of America's youngest politically and economically active generation, seems to have been missed by many power brokers in Washington, DC.
Washington is irrevocably committed to dominate Afghanistan on its own terms, based on a dire reading of its own interests, and expects Pakistan to serve as an obedient client.
Dan Adler, 2011.05.02
Chris Matthews, 2011.05.02
