XPost: alt.politics.bush, misc.survivalism, austin.general   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: jebstevens@guess.com   
      
   Editor's note: David Gergen is a senior political analyst for   
   CNN and has been an adviser to four presidents. He is a   
   professor of public service and director of the Center for   
   Public Leadership at Harvard University's Kennedy School of   
   Government. Follow him on Twitter.   
      
   Cambridge, Massachusetts (CNN) -- An aggressive public relations   
   offensive by the White House, celebrating the anniversary of   
   Osama bin Laden's death, is kicking up a hot political fuss. But   
   are we arguing over the wrong question?   
      
   With their eyes clearly locked on the November elections,   
   President Barack Obama and his team are going all out to   
   dramatize his decision-making and success in taking out   
   America's most wanted.   
      
   What they're doing: Opening up the White House situation room   
   for a presidential interview with NBC, running a television ad   
   by former President Bill Clinton, feeding stories to authors and   
   journalists, encouraging surrogate attacks on Mitt Romney's   
   courage, even a catchy campaign slogan from Joe Biden -- "Bin   
   Laden is dead and General Motors is alive."   
      
   In mock innocence, the White House says they are only responding   
   to news media requests. Yeah, sure.   
      
   Is this White House exploitation for political purposes   
   indecorous and unbecoming, as Republicans claim? Of course it is.   
      
   President George H.W. Bush set the standard for exemplary   
   conduct when he refused to dance on the Soviet grave after its   
   empire collapsed and directed credit toward the U.S. military   
   when they chased Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.   
      
   But more often than not, a president looking toward re-election   
   has gone too far the other way, milking foreign adventures for   
   votes and Republicans have been as guilty as Democrats.   
      
   One of my vivid memories from early White House days was the way   
   we choreographed Richard Nixon's visit to China in 1972, and   
   especially his triumphant return, so that his helicopter from   
   Andrews Air Force Base landed on the Capitol lawn and he then   
   strode into the House chamber to report to a joint session of   
   Congress. It was boffo television, and he won re-election in a   
   landslide not long after.   
      
   Or think of that "Top Gun" performance by President George W.   
   Bush in 2003 as he landed on an aircraft carrier, stepped out in   
   a flight jacket, and spoke to a prime time audience about Iraq --   
    with that "Mission Accomplished" banner just behind him. Even   
   in my wildest dreams in the White House, I never dreamed of   
   using an aircraft carrier as a prop. Not long after, Bush, too,   
   won re-election. (It was not lost on the son that dad's approach   
   hadn't won over voters for re-election.)   
      
   So even though Obama's critics have a valid point about his   
   current PR offensive, they shouldn't beat him up. The public is   
   a good judge of when a president and his team overplay their   
   hands.   
      
   Indeed, it would be far better for Republicans to acknowledge   
   that the president, his advisers and especially the CIA and the   
   Navy SEALs handled bin Laden superbly. Because they did. This   
   was a moment that richly deserves public praise.   
      
   If they would acknowledge that achievement, his critics would   
   then have the credibility to raise the more important and   
   serious question: whether the killing of bin Laden and the   
   gradual crushing of al Qaeda as a serious threat to the U.S. has   
   been as transformative as the White House would lead us to   
   believe.   
      
   No one at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is hanging up "Mission   
   Accomplished" banners, but with elections a half year away, the   
   White House wants us to know that we have a warrior commander in   
   chief at the helm nailing our enemies.   
      
   Unfortunately, it isn't that simple.   
      
   Serious observers are arguing that in the aftermath of bin   
   Laden's death, the world may actually have become more   
   dangerous. In Sunday's Washington Post, columnist David Ignatius   
   persuasively makes the case that we got our man but, as bin   
   Laden hoped, other militant Islamists are now gaining political   
   strength in key countries such as Egypt and Syria.   
      
   In an excellent essay in Time on bin Laden's elimination,   
   Kennedy School scholar Graham Allison argues that as we now   
   focus on Iran producing its first bomb in the coming 12 months,   
   an increasingly unreliable Pakistan could produce 12 in the same   
   time span.   
      
   "So as we applaud extraordinary performance in this operation,"   
   concludes Allison, "we are left contemplating a discovery that   
   means we are likely to soon face even more daunting challenges   
   in the days and months ahead."   
      
   In a political campaign filled with too many diversions, these   
   are the challenges we should be arguing about on the bin Laden   
   anniversary.   
      
   http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/30/opinion/gergen-bin-laden-   
   death/index.html?iid=article_sidebar   
      
   Obama is just a leftist windbag.  All mouth, no ability and no   
   solutions.  Throw this clown out.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)