ALL ABOUT BIN LADEN (1 of 6): CONSERVATIVE DICKS

From Dan Froomkin via the Huffington Post:

Obama Succeeded Where Bush Failed

As he announced the death of infamous terrorist Osama bin Laden on Sunday night, President Barack Obama struck an extraordinary contrast with his predecessor, George W. Bush.

That was to some degree unavoidable. Bush’s consistent failure to respond appropriately to bin Laden -- as a potential threat, as a fugitive, or as a public enemy no. 1 -- represents one of the greatest shortcomings of his presidency.

Obama has now succeeded where Bush failed. And it was impossible to hear Obama declare that "justice has been done" without thinking about how long it went undone.

But Obama also went out of his way to draw distinctions between how he approached the problem and how Bush did.

For instance, as the months and years went by after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- and Bush’s initial bluster about capturing the al Qaeda leader “dead or alive” became a source of embarrassment -- Bush began to insist that bin Laden himself wasn’t so very important.

"I truly am not that concerned about him," Bush said at a White House press conference on March 13, 2002. And of course the following March, he shifted America’s focus to Iraq, which proved to be a gigantic diversion.

More here.

And from Digby over at Hullabaloo:

Hiding Behind His Bullhorn

Did I say Bush declining the invitation to Ground Zero was more likely due to his usual petulance and jealousy rather than grace and class? Yes I did.

And guess what?

“[Bush] viewed this as an Obama victory lap,” a highly-placed source told the Daily News Wednesday. [...]

“He doesn’t feel personally snubbed and appreciates the invitation, but Obama’s claiming all the credit and a lot of other people deserve some of it,” the source added.

“Obama gave no credit whatsoever to the intelligence infrastructure the Bush administration set up that is being hailed from the left and right as setting in motion the operation that got Bin Laden. It rubbed Bush the wrong way.”

Oh what didn't rub him the wrong way?

More here.

So I've been on hiatus for my big move, which is now over, praise Allah. But I didn't stay away from facebook, which is more free-wheeling and flippant, thus affording some opinionated online fun without much thought. For instance, I've been posting links to great jazz tunes on youtube for some weeks now; I also recently bashed the muppet Elmo in one of my status updates--it's amazing how many defenders that piece of shit has. Anyway, because the ideologies of my facebook "friends" are all over the spectrum, I generally try to stay away from making the blatant political statements I make here on my blog.

The night they got bin Laden, however, I just couldn't resist. Here's what I posted for a status update: "Okay, I voted for Nader, but it's impossible not to note that Obama did in 2 1/2 years what Bush DIDN'T do in 7 1/2..." And really, all things considered, such a statement, while political, is nothing compared to the kind of rabble-rousing I do here. I mean, it's also a fact. Obama did it, and did it relatively quickly, while his predecessor did not do it. Ever. How can this be controversial?

Well, apparently it is controversial. Within minutes, a fellow I knew years ago in high school was telling me that Obama had nothing to do with it, that all the credit should go to the military. I mean, he's got a point, that lots of people working together pulled the operation off, but it was off topic, really, in that my original statement was comparing the efforts of two commanders-in-chief. I tried to re-focus by observing that Obama is as responsible for the kill as Bush would have been if it had happened while he was in office, but to no avail. The thread eventually reached a whopping thirty four comments, dwarfing the comment numbers I usually get here at Real Art.

Another friend, who is a radio DJ in a small town, posted on another thread a few days later that she had accidentally confused, on the air, the President's name with bin Laden's, and was frightfully embarrassed about it. In an attempt to console her, I commented that it was an easy mistake to make, that the names sound alike, that right-wing talk show hosts had pounded away at the similarities back during the campaign, and that one guy was responsible for offing the other. She shot back that Obama wasn't responsible for doing it, and that she didn't want to get into any political debates. I got the same thing from a co-worker a day or two later.

What the fuck is going on here?

These are the same people who whooped and cheered when Bush put on a flight suit, strapped himself into a navy jet, landed on an aircraft carrier, and then prematurely announced "mission accomplished" regarding the war in Iraq. If that's not claiming responsibility for a military operation, I don't know what "responsibility" means. And all these people were totally cool with it, loved it even. And really, while I think the whole "mission accomplished" thing was tacky, I think it's just fine for a commander to be ultimately responsible for the actions of his troops. Actually, it's not just what I think: it's the truth; commanders do, indeed, have responsibility for their soldiers' actions. Because, you know, they're commanders.

Obviously, this is only an issue because conservatives don't accept that Obama is our nation's leader. Actually, this hits on something that drives me truly mad about American conservatives: they believe that only they are legitimate Americans. Any one even slightly to the left of far right extremist is somehow illegitimate when it comes to being an American. And that's just fucking crazy for about a million self-evident reasons.

You just know Bush would have fucking laurel leaves in his hair, have been hoisted up on a sedan chair, fed grapes by virgins, and paraded around cheering wingnut crowds for days if he had done the deed. But Obama, in stark contrast, had nothing to do with it, if you listen to these psychos. And it really is a psychosis.

So the conservatives are being total dicks about this. Even Bush himself. But here's some news for you. It hasn't been 2001 for ten years. The cult of Bush is a joke now. And I, and people like me, are no longer afraid to call bullshit when they try to rub our noses in it. This is Obama's victory. There is no doubt about this. Bush fucked around for eight years and totally failed to get bin Laden. Obama rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

And anybody who has a problem with this can suck my big fat cock.

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