Obama Administration Takes Victory Lap in Clown Car

[MCWAY]

I found this hilarious. Check it out:

Obama Administration Takes Victory Lap in Clown Car


It’s been less than 72 hours since President Barack Obama announced that U.S. Special Forces “a small team of Americans” had killed Osama Bin Laden. Since then, his administration has been hard at work screwing the whole thing up.

Let’s start with that speech Sunday night. It was originally announced for 10:30 but didn’t happen until 11:30. By that time, the news Obama was supposed to be breaking had broken already. Not the best start. Presumably he was delayed arguing with his speechwriters about keeping in all the “I,” “Me,” and “Mine.” Everything having to do with this raid was “I”; anything that could be attributed to the Bush administration was “We.” “I gave the order, I did this, I did that.” The hallmark of any great leader is a willingness to bravely take credit for the hard work and sacrifice of others.

Then there’s the official narrative of the raid, which has already gone through more versions than the Star Wars movies. First Bin Laden had a gun; then he didn’t. He hid behind one of his wives, who was killed; wait, no, scratch that, she’s alive and wasn’t his wife. Maybe? Now Leon Panetta says he and President Obama didn’t actually see the whole thing go down, after the White House made a point of releasing that instantly iconic picture of the whole gang watching it go down.

Isn’t it kind of important to get all that stuff right the first time? Personally, I don’t care if Bin Laden was holding a tray of freshly baked cookies and asking our boys if they wanted any tea when they shot him. You’ve heard of suicide by cop? As far as I’m concerned, Osama Bin Laden committed suicide by 9/11. But now the White House just looks like a bunch of bumblers. If you’re not exactly sure what happened, why give details you might have to retract? How in the world do you screw up a win this big? (Amanda Carey has a wrap-up of the inconsistencies in the official story.)

And now the Obama administration is showing decisive leadership on the issue of dithering. “Gee, should we show the pictures of Bin Laden with his Navy SEAL makeover? Won’t that make people mad?” The Abu Ghraib pics were in the public interest; visual evidence of the death of the mastermind of 9/11 isn’t. Keeping us from seeing flag-draped coffins was bad; keeping us from seeing a blood-drenched mass-murderer is good. Now they’ve finally decided not to release the pictures, after Panetta already said they would. I’m sure that’s Obama’s final decision unless he changes his mind. Stay tuned for the latest round of polls.

Tomorrow Obama is going to Ground Zero, his first visit there as president. He invited George Bush, who declined. Guess Bush was paying attention to what happened to Paul Ryan when he accepted an invitation from Obama. Donald Trump and a few Supreme Court Justices know a little bit about it too. When you only reach across the aisle to slap your opponents in the face, eventually they stop showing up. But hey, it’s entirely possible that Obama will use this moment to show some bipartisanship instead of just saying, “I’m really bipartisan, you guys” and then attacking people who disagree with him. Hey, it could happen.

For more on how the Greatest President in U.S. History is managing to turn a near-perfect military and intelligence victory into a snowballing public-relations fiasco, see Stephen Green (“The Gang That Could Shoot Straight — But Not Much Else”) and Andrew Malcolm (“Osama bin Laden dead: Yes, SEALs were in on the raid, but aides hail Obama’s office bravery”).


And if it irks you that anybody’s daring to criticize the President of the United States for not doing everything perfectly after a big win: now you know how we felt for 8 years.

P.S. Reuters: Photos show three dead men at bin Laden raid house.

P.P.S. Thought experiment: If Osama Bin Laden had been killed by U.S. troops between September 11, 2001 and January 20, 2009, would you have wanted to see pictures? Do you now? Are they different answers? If so, why?

P.P.P.S. HuffPo: Administration Grows Frustrated As Conversation Shifts From Bin Laden To Waterboarding. What a shame, the peasants won’t stick to the script. A couple of key grafs:

Defenders of the interrogation technique raised the issue, earning write-ups in several high-profile publications, including The New York Times and Time magazine. It was also put forward in most bin Laden-related news interviews with Obama officials. The problem, those officials stress, is that questioning the effectiveness of waterboarding in the bin Laden case oversimplifies a complex issue to which there may not be any concrete answers.

Ever notice how much more “complex” and “without concrete answers” everything is when the president is a Democrat?

And:

By most accounts, harsh interrogation measures including waterboarding did not play a role in helping to track bin Laden’s whereabouts or his associates. According to the Times, in 2002 and 2003 “interrogators first heard about a Qaeda courier who used the nom de guerre Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti” — the same courier who would ultimately lead the CIA to bin Laden’s location. But, the Times reported, “his name was just one tidbit in heaps of uncorroborated claims.”

“Waterboarding had nothing to do with finding Bin Laden, except for, um, er, uh, uncovering the clue that led to finding Bin Laden.” Good stuff. Dismissing the courier’s name because it was just one of many clues is like dismissing a needle because it was found in a big stack of hay.

P.P.P.P.S. Damian Thompson: That White House clarification in full.

P.P.P.P.P.S. Bookworm Room has a numbered list of the changes to the official story. There are 26 so far, but keep in mind that it’s only been three and a half days.



http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/04/obama-administration-takes-victory-lap-in-clown-car/

[Dos Equis]

Yeah.  He really hasn't handled this very well.  How sad is it that this administration has done one great thing in two years, and managed to screw it up?  [head shaking]

[loco]

LOL

[Kazan]

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

[blacken700]

news from a right wing web site,wow who would have thought .thats like me putting shit on from keith olbermann.

[loco]

news from a right wing web site,wow who would have thought .thats like me putting shit on from keith olbermann.

Have you never posted stuff from a left wing web site before?

This isn't news.  This is a good observation on the inconsistencies in the news coming from Obama and his administration.

[blacken700]

right wing opinion, thats about it,no more no less

[Kazan]

So you are saying the message from the Obama administration has been clear, concise, and with no inconsistencies?

[blacken700]

So you are saying the message from the Obama administration has been clear, concise, and with no inconsistencies?

i don't believe everthing i read on some of these so called news sites,you know the saying, just because it's on the internet dosen't make it true

[Soul Crusher]

 

[Kazan]

i don't believe everthing i read on some of these so called news sites,you know the saying, just because it's on the internet dosen't make it true

You been under a news blackout since Sunday?

[blacken700]

no just happy they killed the fu#ker, that's good enough for me, don't need to read how one side or the other spins it  

[loco]

right wing opinion, thats about it,no more no less

^
 l
 l__  Left wing opinion, that's about it,no more no less

[Kazan]

no just happy they killed the fu#ker, that's go enough for me, don't need to read how one side or the other spins it 

No one is spinning anything, the message from the Obama white house has been one contradiction after another. Hell Clinton will say something and then an hour later Panetta will speak and contradict what Clinton said. It's pretty fucking sad really

[loco]

i don't believe everthing i read on some of these so called news sites,you know the saying, just because it's on the internet dosen't make it true

You don't believe the announcements that Obama and his administration have been making since 5/1/11?

[Soul Crusher]

Clown Car Admn,  

[MCWAY]

news from a right wing web site,wow who would have thought .thats like me putting shit on from keith olbermann.

That's an opinion piece, which people post here on a regular basis.

[Dos Equis]

What were they watching in the picture they released? 

[Soul Crusher]

What were they watching in the picture they released? 

Palin / Bachmann surging in the polls and about to oust those communist pukes at 1600 PA Ave.   

[Kazan]

What were they watching in the picture they released? 

American Idol

[Dos Equis]

American Idol

lol

[Soul Crusher]

lol

[headhuntersix]

Blacken gimme a break....they had a single story. The only people who knew what happened where the SEALs..who don't do media...Bin Laden and his half a head..and a hand full of people who may or may not be in Pakistani hands. ONE FRIGGEN STORY..except they couldn't stick to it...why the hell not. They knew what was about to happen..they had the release, timeline and facts pretty much ready to go when they knew they had him....now its a mess. Hell Hil has to make some stupid statement about her allergies. She just saw Bin Laden and friends get capped live....she is allowed to be horrified, especially the way I'm sure the SEALS went about clinically smoking the ragheads in the compound. Notice the pics...all head shots. Barry could fuck up a free lunch.....this was a free lunch.

[Dos Equis]

Funny!   

[Dos Equis]

Blacken gimme a break....they had a single story. The only people who knew what happened where the SEALs..who don't do media...Bin Laden and his half a head..and a hand full of people who may or may not be in Pakistani hands. ONE FRIGGEN STORY..except they couldn't stick to it...why the hell not. They knew what was about to happen..they had the release, timeline and facts pretty much ready to go when they knew they had him....now its a mess. Hell Hil has to make some stupid statement about her allergies. She just saw Bin Laden and friends get capped live....she is allowed to be horrified, especially the way I'm sure the SEALS went about clinically smoking the ragheads in the compound. Notice the pics...all head shots. Barry could fuck up a free lunch.....this was a free lunch.

Yep.