Saturday, April 28, 2012

The killing of Osama bin Laden

The New York Times says:

President Obama is increasingly taking the unusual route of bragging about how he killed a man.
Well, that's one way to put it!

That's how I might expect a very far-left fringe candidate to describe our successful mission to kill the head of al Qaeda. The fact that this kind of approach is being used by mainstream Republicans like John McCain, as a proxy for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, is surprising.

9 comments:

Henry said...

You're quoting either Peter Baker or Michael D. Shear. McCain is just a proxy for them.

rcommal said...

Credit due to where it is due is a vanishingly noted thing, John. Far better than *that* is the skill of spin, which is the much more valued thing--and, more important, the thing that is expected to be most valued, and so people mostly go along with that.

teapartydoc said...

Bragging about shooting a fish in a barrel isn't exactly the most valorous thing a man can do.

John Althouse Cohen said...

Well, what's more important for the president to do: embody abstract virtues, or actually get stuff done in the real world?

Rocketeer said...

Well, what's more important for the president to do: embody abstract virtues, or actually get stuff done in the real world?

Shouldn't the president be able to do both? The smart ones can, at least.

Rafique said...

Shouldn't the president be able to do both? The smart ones can, at least.

Display good decision-making skills, and making good decisions. Seems like both in operation to me. The ad, in context, hardly seems like bragging. The ad was a way to taut one of Obama's major foreign policy successes, in order to challenge the charge that he is weak on foreign policy, and the Romney is somehow stronger. There is a case to be made that the Romney bit should've been left out, but this ad isn't nearly as horrible as many are making it out to be, and considering the source of some of the criticism (excepting McCain), I find it astonishing, considering the GOP's record.

Rocketeer said...

Display good decision-making skills, and making good decisions. Seems like both in operation to me.

"Displaying good decision-making skills" wasn't the abstract virture under discussion. Do keep up, please.

Rafique said...

I understand what was under discussion, Rockeeter--you made a point about the ability to display asbtract virtues, and get stuff done. I argued that good decision-making is an abstract vitue in operation, and dagree wuth the assertion that he was bragging.

Anonymous said...

So George Bush wasn't even able to shoot fish in a barrel. Got it.