With the death of Osama bin Laden, I wanted to discuss why President Barack Obama did the right thing.
We want our presidents to be all things: to have the oratory of JFK, the confidence of FDR, the resonant patriotism of Reagan, the common-sense toughness of Harry Truman, the military temperament and restraint of Ike, the human feel of Bill Clinton.
Well, you learn the more you pay attention, that you can't have it all. You give here to get there. You accept this so you can keep on cheering that. You grow up and realize not all kinds of greatness comes even with a great man.
And so we look at our leader tonight. Less than a week ago, he was showing us his birth certificate to prove to some that he's for real, not some imposter, shipped in here from East Africa intent on our destruction. Yes, our democracy requires that even the political babies out there deserve attention, deserve to be talked to, to be given their pacifiers when they cry to loud.
But what of the man who kept cool through all the clatter and nonsense knowing he had other work today, he and Leon Panetta and the other grown-ups. They were doing what Americans wanted, needed, knew had to be done for humanity - get Bin Laden, get him so that people would know that the victims - and that's an awful lot of people in this time of terrorism - have their tough guys too who can do the good work of this planet.
I like competence. I like the dentist, the doctor, the air plane pilot, the police officer, the accountant, the lawyer, the guy who fixes window screens, the guy who fixes the escalator when it breaks, the people in uniform you walk by on the way to work and get there because of them.
The competent people, not the sideshow barkers, the showmen, the, pretenders.
Politics, too, is a profession. It's the profession to gives us our leaders in this form of government. Tonight we know we have a president who could thrill us as a candidate, direct a complicated, deadly serious operation like getting the killer of 9/11. Democracy works.
I've said that on the couple times I've been down the table from the president at a briefing I believed, listening to him explain issues, and parry with serious reporters, that he should be the president, that it is right for this job.
Tonight the country knows what I'm talking about. No leader can be good at everything.
This president was very good at doing this, and we, the voters, were very good in picking him.
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/42888903#42868802
Imagine.....I don’t know why, but the notion that Mr. Matthews used the verb, discuss; put a smile on my face. I don’t know why, but he reminds me of a pudgy collage student whose only claim to fame is, he has managed to gain acceptance to some obscure fraternity on campus.
Imagine a fellow with less then stellar academic prowess, whose only contributions in life have been to serve some politico as his personal apparatchik, whose ideas of enjoyment in life is aligned with a hypocritical talk show, in which he attempts to marginalize any and all not in step with his ideas of grandeur. Ain’t life grand in Pixie Hollow? WFR
He just requests an officical copy by courier that is signed, sealed and delivered!
Others pretend to hunt down terrorists spending billions looking for Bin Laden,
He just dispatches a helicopter with a few Navy Seals to accomplish the mission.
He was once caught in a lightning storm, and he used the resulting power to run his home
for two years.
If he is lost and makes a wrong turn while driving, it is always right.
He once told a joke that was so funny, the people who laughed at it
caused a minor earthquake.
I don't always raise my voice to make a point, but when I do, s---t gets done!
He's the most interesting President in the world.
I liked what you called the President - "Master and Commander"
Sound a lot better than "THE DECIDER!"
It has a nice touch, for our President, who can walk and chew gum at the same time!
Brilliant!
The Republicans can't bring themselves to congratulate the president on a job well done. They nitpick his style as weak and dithering, but he comes across as looking measured and competent. They complain that his foreign policy is tepid, but how can they criticize him when he has EXPANDED Bush's war on terror to drone strikes in Pakistan, increased troops in Afghanistan, continued presence in Iraq, kept Gitmo open, bombed Libya, kept the Patriot Act policies largely intact, said "No" to civilian trials, and has taken out Osama, the head of Al Qaeda. How can they find fault with that??? On the other hand, how can the anti-war, no blood for oil, no WMD findin' peace-lovin' liberals and progressives support such an aggressive foreign policy approach by the Nobel peace prize winning Obama without so much as a whimper of protest? It is ALL about politics. As long as THEIR candidate is doing it, it is all OK.