Pirate's Cove

So says cheerleader Alexandra, sorry, Alexander Burns at The Politico

So much for campaigning against Jimmy Carter.

In the aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s death, Republicans are adjusting to a new political reality: with the bin Laden trump card now in President Barack Obama’s possession, it’s looking increasingly likely the 2012 campaign will ride on a single number—the national unemployment rate.

Anyone remember mentioning Carter’s failed hostage rescue as a comparison to Obama, except as an afterthought? Yeah, me neither. The comparisons mostly revolve around rising gas prices, rising food prices, rising consumer goods prices, a stagnant economy, pervasive high unemployment, reckless spending, low consumer confidence, and tone deafness to the wishes of the American public. Oh, and a terrible foreign policy, which reduces the role of American in international politics.

The same hail of bullets that tore through the terrorist leader’s compound appears to have cut through the GOP’s desired narrative for the presidential election, at least temporarily dispelling the image of Obama as a weak-kneed pushover. And that leaves the economy as the president’s single major point of vulnerability.

Wait, I thought it was the unemployment rate? Much like Obama himself, Alexander Burns is jumping all over the place. But, Burns is right in that this is temporary, unless the economy shores itself up by next summer. And, isn’t that whole “hail of bullets…cut through the GOP’s desired narrative” rather violent rhetoric, which could lead to assaults against Republicans?

Anyhow, much of the rest of the article is about how Republicans are suddenly no longer able to take the national security banner because Obama gave an order and watched for 40 minutes

“People like to see a pattern of sustained leadership,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, head of the American Action Forum and a former adviser to John McCain. “Remember, for every one of these [victories], he’s got, ‘Explain the Libya flip-flop.’ It’s not like he’s nailed down the foreign policy profile and owned that completely.”

Still, Holtz-Eakin said, the bin Laden killing is likely to stand out as a monumental achievement for Obama in an election focused “primarily on his record as a steward of the economy.”

Look, I’m not going to take anything away from Obama giving the “GO!” order: it was a big decision, and he made the right call. Yet, it’s not just the Libyan issue, which has mostly disappeared from the news (cause it makes Obama look bad): it’s how long it took him to get involved in the Egypt issue, it’s ignoring the Green uprising in Iran, watching hundreds of protesters being killed in Syria, attempting to prosecute KSM and other terrorists in civilian court near the former site of the WTC, ticking off our allies and pandering to enemy nations, and, for Left side voters, failing to close Guantanamo Bay, targeted killings, still in Iraq, escalating the Afghanistan war, renditions, and all the other things Bush did that Obama still does. But, yes, it will mostly be about the economy….well, for voters in the know: Obama supporters would still vote for him if the unemployment rate was 15% and inflation was going through the roof. Because he gives good speech or something.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.