Last updated on February 9th, 2013 at 04:33 am
Here’s what You People need to know about the Swiftboating of Obama on the bin Laden raid is all about. The efforts to diminish the exemplary accomplishments of President Obama are backed by a number of groups, one of which is called “Special Operations Speaks” (so cute how they try to label their operation as if it’s a real military operation). SOS is headed by a birther, so there’s THAT itty-bitty discrediting of the entire effort, designed to diminish the President’s accomplishments as Commander-in-Chief.
Foreign Policy reported on the man who is silly enough to claim to be the leader of “SOS” today:
“I have to admit that I’m a Birther,” said SOS founder Larry Bailey, a retired 27-year veteran of the Navy SEALs, in an interview. “If there were a jury of 12 good men and women and the evidence were placed before them, there would be absolutely no question Barack Obama was not born where he said he was and is not who he says he is.”
After nattering on about how some bizarre conspiracy theory regarding who Obama’s “real father” is, he throws in this craziness, “Barack Obama’s a born red-diaper baby. He’s a socialist.”
Okay then. His allegations are silly Breitbartesque irrelevancies that only scream “We can’t stand that Obama is a strong leader! WAAA!” Their accusation is that Obama leaks things and therefor is doomed to failure, but of course, Obama has been successful beyond their wildest dreams when it comes to national security, so it’s probably best if they just let him do his thing. He hardly needs “advice” from folks who can’t read or use Google.
Furthermore, if it’s leaks they are worried about for real, then surely they’d be wasting money making videos about Mitt Romney’s M16 leak. No? Right. Because this isn’t about the facts, it’s about an agenda.
What’s the agenda?
The agenda is to attempt to take Obama’s strength and turn it into a weakness. In conservative Republican view, it’s not about the country winning, it’s about their side winning. Thus, when Obama got Osama, they were devastated. DEVASTATED. These alleged patriots could barely manage to force even a remote appearance of pride, relief, or patriotism.
Things only got worse for their slim hopes of our country failing in order to make their dreams of Obama failure come true when Admiral McRaven, United States Navy four-star admiral who currently serves as ninth Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command and organized and executed Operation Neptune’s Spear (the special ops raid that led to capture and death of bin Laden), said this to Time Magazine about President Obama’s leadership (emphasis mine):
“McRaven speaks respectfully of bush as Commander in Chief, saying he “made some very, very tough decisions.” About Obama, without a question to prompt him, he waxes lyrical and at length. The planning and decision making for the bin Laden raid, he volunteers, “was really everything the American public would expect from their national leadership.”
“The President was at all times presidential,” he says. “I would contend he was the smartest guy in the room. He had leadership skills we’d expect from a guy who had 35 years in the military.”
Let’s repeat, “He had leadership skills we’d expect from a guy who had 35 years in the military.”
That crying sound you just heard was the long tradition of draft dodging Republicans co-opting the military dying on its sword. President Obama is running against a draft-dodging Republican. President Obama is a brave man, a smart leader, an excellent strategist, and is highly respected by the military he leads.
This reality is so unbelievable to conservatives that they seek to destroy the reputation of the President at any cost. Indeed, in their swiftboat movie, you can hear them whine that they want the President to “stop talking about it!” It’s so transparent that they hope to bully him into shutting up; the contempt is all you can hear in their voice. Of course, this President got Osama, so he’s not going to be bullied by a few birther punks who can’t manage to show respect to the Commander-in-Chief of the country they are supposed to love and serve.
And that is what you really need to know. They want you to stop talking about the President’s courage, leadership, and bravery. They want you to stop talking about how President Obama put this nation first, ahead of his political career. They want you to stop talking about how he did what Bush could not, and how he did what Romney said was not important – going after the terrorist who masterminded the 9/11 attacks.
Yes, indeed, the birthers behind the swiftboating of Barack Obama do not want you to talk about how great of a Commander in Chief Obama is.
To this, I say, “Admiral McRaven said — and he ought to know, ‘He had leadership skills we’d expect from a guy who had 35 years in the military.’ That’s kinda like running to France to hide from the draft, only with real responsibilities.”
Obama got Osama. He’s kept us safe. He’s been smart about ending Bush’s wars. He’s been slow and deliberate regarding new conflict. Clearly, President Obama doesn’t need to take national security advice from silly boys playing special ops games with a video camera who can’t read a birth certificate. We’ll see your “SOS” and raise you an Operation Neptune’s Spear.
I think we’re done here.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
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