The behavior of a politician in an election year can often be sketchy: Attack ads, fake smiles and bragging. When the politician is the current President of the United States of America, one expects at least a little decorum. President Obama has stepped way over the line of good taste in a new campaign ad that has some US Navy SEALs (Sea, Air, and Land Teams-the US Navy's elite special ops force) pretty ticked off.
On April 27th, Barack Obama's 'Truth Team' released a one and-a-half-minute long ad called 'One Chance'. In the ad, former president Bill Clinton talks about the decision to strike the Pakistani hideout of Osama Bin Laden back in May of 2011. He says that Obama took 'the harder and the more honorable path' by issuing the order to kill. On the screen it flashes, 'Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?' The ad quotes some comments that Romney made back in 2007 that supposedly show that he would not have made the proper choice...taken the 'one chance', that President Obama took.
Understandably, many SEALs, active and inactive, are speaking out against the use of the operation, manned by the elite SEAL Team Six, in a political ad. Sen. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) is a former US Navy Commander and a 28-year vet who actually led a Team Six unit. In a quote from Daily Mail, Zinke said, "The decision was a no-brainer. I applaud him for making it, but I would not overly pat myself on the back for making the right call. The President and his administration are positioning him as a war president using the SEALs as ammunition. It was predictable." Predictable? Maybe, but not appropriate.
Defending the ad at a news conference Monday, Obama said, "I said that I'd go after bin Laden if we had a clear shot at him, and I did. If there are others who have said one thing and now suggest they'd do something else, then I'd go ahead and let them explain it." The president obviously made the correct choice; however, using it as a campaign tool cheapens the work done by the SEALs and other people involved.
An active SEAL told the Daily Mail, "But the more he tries to take the credit for it, the more the ground operators are saying, 'Come on, man!' It really didn't matter who was president. At the end of the day, they were going to go." Even Arianna Huffington of Obama's favorite website, Huffington Post, was dismayed. She said that celebrating the anniversary was fine, "but to turn it into a campaign ad is one of the most despicable things you can do."
It would be interesting to see the real reaction to the ad from people who watch YouTube, but as usual, the campaign is filtering comments. They allow a few negative posts, but there is still an overwhelming majority of positive comments. When someone posts the video on a free comment channel, it might give a more accurate view.
President Obama needs to do the right thing and take the ad off the air. While he has every right in the world to be proud of his decision and the work done based on his decision, it is nothing that should be glorified. Shortly after the mission, he told the press that "we shouldn't 'spike the ball' after the touchdown." Isn't that exactly what he's doing with this ad? Out of respect for the people involved in the mission, in particular, the mission participating SEALs who died in the August 2011 helicopter crash, he must pull the ad.
© Margie Wilson-Mars 2012
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Comments: 76
It's only an issue because it's a Democratic president.
How many times did Rudi Giuliani sing the praises of GW Bush on the campaign trail for taking out Saddam Hussein? How many times was John Kerry called a wimp and a peace lover, and castigated as too weak on defense, because he noted that Bin Laden had nothing to do with Saddam?
And John McCain, who said that he wouldn't go into Pakistan, is whining even louder.
The Republicans politicized 9/11 for years, but apparently POTUS can't run on the fact that he and his team actually avenged the death of the person in that coffin. Yeah, that makes sense. [/sarcasm]
It's also worth pointing out that this mission was risky, and it is leaked that the president was advised against it by several senior advisers, including the Secretary of State. Sec. Clinton is not exactly soft on foreign policy (ask Ann Coulter if you don't believe me) so if she was worried about the potential troop loss and advised against ordering the raid, it was obviously a difficult decision and the claim that it was a "no-brainer" is utter crap.
The fact remains that the president made a gutsy, risky decision that resulted in a legendary victory for the United States. It is now part of his foreign policy record. There is no reason why he shouldn't run on the facts.
Short memories.
Scrolling up, you see discussion that Bush also exploited events.
I think the point of those discussions is that some who support your position are being hypocritical.
There was no "I" or "me" in the video at all.
which by the way had nothing to do with Osama Bin Laden.
hm. I am not going to assume that. Obama could have asked the Pakistan military to take out Bin Laden. Problem is, Bush had shared such intelligence with them in the past, and somehow the terrorists were never at home when the strike showed up.
Obama was too wise to be played that way. Romney back in 2007 was quoted as saying that Obama's stated plan of acting on Bin Laden intelligence even it it meant violating Pakistani airspace was reckless and wrong. So unless that was a mere "etch a sketch" statement, there is reason to think that not everyone would have been as gutsy as Obama under the circumstances.
Consider the source.
Why doesn't Romney counter attack with the fact that Obama's administration leaked the where abouts of seal team six causing them them to be casualties of an attack.
Wehre is the outcry that the blood of Seal Team Six is on Obama's and the administrations hands?
But, with that being said the seals can't complain about the white house blunder, as we are seeing military personnel being discharged from teh military for disagreeing with Obama or exercising their freedom of speech on their facebook page.... So they are complaining about what they can complain about.
That's entirely a lie, but not that I would have expected any more from you anyway.
The man lies as it is, another lie like this wo uldn't hurt him, but no matter the helicopter was shot down, AFTER it was leaked about their mission.
Really great white house admin.
Just add a few more American deaths, no big deal because MORE soldiers have died under Obama's watch than Bush's watch. 67% of the deaths in Afghanistan have been under Obama's watch....How's that for a patriotic president.
His motto is most likely kill the military, make us weak, so the Muslim countries can march right in and take over.
What drivel. It's obvious that you have done your usual level of non-research, and just parroted the usual frightwing lies.
Actually, it's 69%. That's the difference in actually prosecuting a war instead of parking soldiers and resources in a country and not doing anything. And it's still about a quarter of the casualties in the war on Iraq, which we didn't need to be in in the first place.
And do you just practice saying things as dumb as "His motto is most likely kill the military, make us weak, so the Muslim countries can march right in and take over."
In case you missed it, and you probably did, most combat forces are now out of Iraq, which means that many more soldiers can get on with their lives. Do you honestly think that there's a Muslim country that wants to invade the United States? What's your evidence of that?
Arianna Huffington told CBS: ‘We should celebrate the fact that they did such a great job. It's one thing to have an NBC special from the Situation Room... all that to me is perfectly legitimate, but to turn it into a campaign ad is one of the most despicable things you can do.’
Chris Kyle is a former United States Navy SEAL. He is the deadliest sniper in United States military history..."In years to come there is going to be information that will come out that Obama was not the man who made the call. He can say he did and the people who really know what happened are inside the Pentagon, are in the military and the military isn’t allowed to speak out against the commander- in-chief so his secret is safe,"
Brandon Webb, a former SEAL who spent 13 years on active duty and served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said: ‘Bush should get partial credit for putting the system in place. “Obama inherited a very robust package with regards to special ops and the intelligence community. But Obama deserves credit because he got bin Laden – you can’t take that away from him.”
Clint Bruce, who gave up the chance of an NFL career to serve as a SEAL officer before retiring as a lieutenant after nine years, said: ‘We were extremely surprised and discouraged by the publicity because it compromises the ability of those guys to operate. ‘It’s a waste of time to speculate about who would and wouldn’t have made that decision. It was a symphony of opportunity and intelligence that allowed this administration to give the green light. We want to acknowledge that they made that decision."
Chuck Pfarrer, author of Seal Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama Bin Laden said, “It became obvious in the weeks evolving after the mission that the story that was getting put out there was not only untrue, but it was a really ugly farce of what did happen.”
I REALLY wanna know what this Chris Kyle guy has to say or if he's just puffing smoke.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/washington/04intel.html
I think this strongly supports what Robert said.
Anyone who doesn't think so, should go soak their head.
I don't give a damn if I like the ad or you like the ad..the SEALs don't like it and they are the ones who count. They deserve the honor and respect of the president pulling the ad.
Dunno why - after all, Obama clearly credited them for the success of the attack on OBL.
By contrast, they were silent when this occurred:
http://www.ghostinthemachine.net/mission5.jpg
Bush made political capital out of that even though it turned out to be an abject failure and still looks stupid after all this time.