Osama Bin Laden Assassination: All the Credit, None of the Blame?

Obama has been riding the accomplishment of taking out our #1 enemy, but this guy alleges he was prepared to lay all the blame elsewhere had the mission failed. What do you think? Is this spineless or standard procedure for a President in his first term (or any term)?

Michael Mukasey: Obama and the bin Laden Bragging Rights - WSJ.com

 

Sop

 

I don't really read that as a responsibility escape clause ... actually, it seems like something that would be pretty common in situations like this. It's more of a cover your ass than a responsibility escape clause...though I'm sure if something went wrong, it would be cited as an unpresented risk (and thus the cover your ass does become a responsibility escape clause, I suppose).

I also have a bit of a beef with the blowup over Obama mentioning the intelligence collected. I think that it would have been best to not talk about it - but any organization with an ounce of operational discipline would have assumed any and all intelligence in that building had been compromised, with or without the President's comments. Furthermore, within days they would have known from Pakistani sources what was left in the house.

I do think that Obama did not take the right tone in his speech. He definitely wanted to thank the Seal team, but then make sure that everyone knew he was in the center of this. I think that this is really just a manifestation of a broader problem...and that is that Obama is incredibly uncomfortable around our military brass. He is threatened by them. He feels like the small man in the room with the military and loses that usual smoothness that Obama exudes. Basically, he gets an inferiority complex. I think that what we saw was that playing out..."I did this...I DID THIS!!" And, I don't think that it was as much a calculated political decision as it was a direct result of him feeling like he really, really, really needs to prove himself when it comes to military matters. It's a hole for a man who isn't accustomed to feeling inferior or threatened. I think that the attitude he takes with respect to the military made its way out into the public light in that speech.

 

More from Mukasey:
"And if he encountered anything else, he had to check back. You better believe if anything else had been encountered and the mission had failed, then the blame would have fallen on McCraven. That's what that is about."

 

How exactly was he going to shift the blame? All I'm seeing is Obama wanted to know about any unforeseen circumstance.

 

I'm all for crapping on obama, but i doubt there are many administrations that wouldn't have covered their arse in the same way.

 

This is awfully nitpicky. I'm sorry a guy you despised got to be the osama slayer.

 

I think Clinton said it best in the commercial he made.