Politifact Rates Osama Bin Laden's Death As An Obama Campaign Promise 'Kept'

Politifact, which has exhaustively cataloged each and every one of President Barack Obama's campaign promises and has been ticking them off as fulfilled or failed throughout the course of his administration, have updated their page to reflect the fact that killing Osama bin Laden is a "promise kept." All well and good, but surely it is not unreasonable to hope that future occasions where a presidential candidate makes a campaign promise to kill someone will be few and far between.

Katie Hamm can consider herself to be a part of the historical firmament now, as it was her question at October 2008's "town hall" debate between Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in Nashville, Tenn., that enshrined "We will kill bin Laden" as a "campaign promise."

WATCH:

TOM BROKAW: Senator McCain, thank you very much.

Next question for Senator Obama. It comes from the F Section, and it’s from Katie Hamm. Katie?

KATIE HAMM: Should the United States respect Pakistani sovereignty and not pursue al Qaeda terrorists who maintain bases there, or should we ignore their borders and pursue our enemies, like we did in Cambodia during the Vietnam War?

SEN. OBAMA: Well, Katie, it’s a terrific question.

And we have a difficult situation in Pakistan. I believe that part of the reason we have a difficult situation is because we made a bad judgment going into Iraq in the first place when we hadn’t finished the job of hunting down bin Laden and crushing al Qaeda.

So what happened was we got distracted, we diverted resources, and ultimately bin Laden escaped, set up base camps in the mountains of Pakistan in the northwest provinces there.

They are now raiding our troops in Afghanistan, destabilizing the situation. They’re stronger now than at any time since 2001. And that’s why I think it’s so important for us to reverse course because that’s the central front on terrorism. They are plotting to kill Americans right now. As Secretary Gates, the Defense secretary, said, the war against terrorism began in that region, and that’s where it will end.

So part of the reason I think it’s so important for us to end the war in Iraq is to be able to get more troops into Afghanistan, put more pressure on the Afghan government to do what it needs to do, eliminate some of the drug trafficking that’s funding terrorism.

But I do believe that we have to change our policies with Pakistan. We can’t coddle, as we did, a dictator, give him billions of dollars, and then he’s making peace treaties with the Taliban and militants. What I have said is we’re going encourage democracy in Pakistan, expand our non-military aid to Pakistan so that they have more of a stake in working with us, but insisting that they go after these militants.

And if we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, then I think that we have to act, and we will take them out.

We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority.

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Comments

[TheGripester]

04:15 PM on 05/05/2011

Claim: Politifact's Obameter "provides an up-to-the-minute tally of all [Obama's] promises."

Date of health care bill signing: March 23, 2010

Date first "Promise Kept" post appears on Politifact: March 26, 2010.

Date of general acknowledgement of Obama having kept additional promises: March 27, 2010.

Date of additional "Promise Kept" posts: March 28, 2010.

Accuracy of the claim "up-to-the-minute tally:" Barely True.

[TheGripester]

06:29 AM on 05/05/2011

Do you know how long it took Politifact's "up-to-the-minute" Obameter to acknowledge that Obama had kept his promises by signing the health care bill? Guess. Three days for one measly "Promise Kept." Then a day later, they sort of admitted that a few promises might be due. Finally, the Friday following the Sunday that the health care bill was signed, they ran some more "Promise Kept" posts.

I was stunned by this level of apathy, and as a result, have stopped regularly visiting the site. They knew the bill was going to be signed. It was coming down the pike for weeks, and there was a substantial lead-in time. They should have posted all the "Promises Kept" the day of the signing, or at latest the following day. Any way you look at it, their own claim that the Obameter is "up-to-the-minute" gets a rating from me of "Barely True."

[LisaLisa1234]

02:22 PM on 05/03/2011

I remember this debate, and this question, well. I also remember a debate back in 2004: John Kerry was talking about how President Bush let bin Laden slip away in the mountains at Tora Bora, instead diverting our resources to a failed war in Iraq which would wind up costing the American people over 200 billion dollars. In his rebuttal, the President scoffed (literally scoffed) at the figure, saying we'd be out of there before it reached 100 billion.

By 2008, there were estimates that the total cost of the Iraq war, including care for the brave men and women sent there, will reach 3 trillion dollars by the time we're through.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/03/AR2010090302200.html

I was convinced in 2004 that, had John Kerry been elected President, Osama bin Laden would have been captured or killed during his administration. I don't know what kind of President he would have been. But I shudder to think of the time and resources wasted in those 4 years.

During the debates of 2008, Obama clinched my vote. My mind was open to John McCain (until SP entered the picture), but I could tell during the debates that though Obama was young and had far less experience, his ideas were the ones we needed to take America forward.

I can't see anything changing that come 2012. Even without this week's victory, he has proven himself to me.

[HeadlessHessian]

02:14 PM on 05/03/2011

Our prez...cool, calm, collected, smart, decisive, and looking out for all Americans, regardless of their race, religion, believes etc.

Way to go Mr. President Obama!!!! Way to go.

[HerbTee]

01:45 PM on 05/03/2011

I remember this campaign exchange between Obama and McCain so well for the fact that McCain sounded and behaved so desperately.  McCain was rambling against Obama about not publicly revealing military tactics.  McCain was also going on and on about knowing where Bin Laden was, only he (McCain) knew how to get Bin Laden and only he knew how to "fix" everything, but offered no plans, details or strategy on how to do so.

McCain's responses were the final acts of a desperate, flailing, an g ry and pathetic old man who was being out-maneuvered, debated over and personally outclassed by the former young pup, Obama.

[kannita]

01:34 PM on 05/03/2011

Absolutely a promise kept. Its on tape!

[DennyCrane]

01:10 PM on 05/03/2011

I agree with the previous poster. Please post McCain's response to Obama's answer. History has shown that Obama was right and McCain was clueless.

[tibetanterrier]

12:03 PM on 05/03/2011

All family members of 9/11 victims should be glad John McCain picked Sarah Palin for VP.
Please post McCains response.

[MRITechnologist]

11:41 AM on 05/03/2011

Two things I never thought I would see. OBL killed, and a black man become President. President Barak Obama has accomplished both of these feats. WOW.

[MRITechnologist]

11:32 AM on 05/03/2011

It is nice that someone took the time to actually post what was said. Usually it is a sound bite or out of context quote. It really makes you see things in perspective. Thank you Jason.

[1differentdrummer]

11:03 AM on 05/03/2011

Unlike the feckless GW Bush, that has been a priority for our president. He has kept his eye on the ball and as a result, he's hit one out of the park.

[imusintheevening]

10:30 AM on 05/03/2011

the debate clip and the result is the best 9/11 campaign commercial ever

[kannita]

01:35 PM on 05/03/2011

It will make a great campaign commercial; playing what was said and what was actually done!

[rak6748]

03:14 AM on 05/03/2011

I'm a Conservative and don't often agree with BHO, but my hat is off to him on his decision to send in Seal Team Six and confirm the kill. Excellent job, Sir.

[paganmist]

04:29 AM on 05/03/2011

And for your reasonableness, I promise to treat your opinions with consideration, even when I don't agree with them.  Thank you!

[redsongia]

10:18 AM on 05/03/2011

Wow, a reasonable voice on the internet!  I did vote for Obama, but don't always agree with everything the man does.  What I do like, and what I think Americans respond to with pride where he's concerned, is that plain spoken, exageration free style he has of stating what he would do in a given situation or what he wants to do as a policy and then legitimately trying to come as close as he can to that thing. 
 
With complex legislation, it's easy to doubt his intent when things get diverted, but with a clear cut goal like this, yeah, it's a reminder that at least he tries harder than most politicians to bring a little honesty and straight forwardness to the discourse.
 

[Trogenhorse]

11:07 AM on 05/03/2011

You are fanned because like you, I look at how hard this man tries to meet his promises and do the right things. He is successful at times and at others not so much. I love him, his goodness shines through

[UncleSquinky]

01:50 AM on 05/03/2011

Great, he got OBL and schlepped through a crappy national health care bill. Other campaign promises: not so much.

[babyspittle]

03:01 AM on 05/03/2011

+$0.05

try the website at the heart of this story.
they list more than 130 kept

[Sumocat]

10:56 AM on 05/03/2011

Considering he's working against complete conservative defiance and getting nothing but whining from progressives, I'd say he's making incredible progress. Who knows how much he could accomplish if he had support from a political party that could fight.

[Trogenhorse]

11:09 AM on 05/03/2011

you are fanned

[jsrl317]

12:36 AM on 05/03/2011

Any questions? 24 hours and served two. GObama!