"It's been a dampening mood in America quite frankly. We needed a win - and we got a win tonight." - from the instantaneous celebration in front of the White House
Obama in his remarks last night: “Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. We will be relentless in defense of our citizens and our friends and allies. We will be true to the values that make us who we are. And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda’s terror: Justice has been done.”
Obama's political opponents react with congratulations:
Mitt Romney - "This is a great victory for lovers of freedom and justice everywhere. Congratulations to our intelligence community, our military and the president."
Tim Palwenty - "This is terrific news for freedom and justice. I want to congratulate America's armed forces and President Obama for a job well done."
Former President Bush - "I congratulated him (Obama) and the men and women of our military and intelligence communities who devoted their lives to this mission. They have our everlasting gratitude."
Last night was thrilling to watch the news being announced. While it doesn't bring back any of our dead from 9/11, there is at the very least a small sense of closure.
Sad to say, there are some who have taken to saying that Obama "didn't do anything" or "was in the right place at the right time." Sad. Simply sad.
We are all Americans and when simple minded people make statements like that at a time of massive international news, it belittles us all. He is our President. He is the Commander in Chief. He oversaw hours and hours of intelligence and counter-terrorism meetings, and ultimately he made the call to send the mission. IF it had gone wrong, trust and believe he would have been blamed.
However, to the contrary, the mission he gave the "go-ahead" to succeeded. Beyond wildest dreams. Not only was the "most wanted terrorist in the world" captured and killed, but tons of intelligence, hard drives and computers were retrieved for future use in the war on terrorism.
Bin Laden’s death sends an indirect but clear rebuttal to all those who questioned Obama's toughness on foreign policy and bats down the criticism from the right that Obama's rhetoric is too soft. Obama supporters will say it proves it's not tough talk that matters - but rather action.
While Trump was making headlines asking for birth certificates and school records, President Obama was getting the job done. It makes all that silly "birther" business seem very small now, doesn't it?
The past few years have been difficult. Nothing has united Democrats, Republicans, and independents -- until now. As President Obama said last night, “Let us think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11. I know that it has, at times, frayed. Yet today’s achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people.” As I read on MSNBC's website, "there was never going to be a V-E Day after 9/11, but this is as close as the country will get to one."
It is my hope, as the stock markets rise and the price of oil dips on this news today, that we again find that sense of unity and now move forward as a nation.
Thank you, Randy. I could not have said it better. I don't think anyone, neither the Republicans, the Democrats nor Obama himself, is saying that "Obama killed Osama Bin Laden by himself". the beauty of this operation is that it was the combined efforts of great leaders, unbelievably brave service people and magnificent minds over BOTH administrations that led to the final result.
ReplyDeleteStill, I think there are some people who are just happier and more comfortable being disgruntled and hating people and things they clearly know little about...too much FOX Television, perhaps?????