Sept 11. survivors, such as John Reilly, have been pleased with Obama’s handling of Bin Laden’s death. World leaders, from the UK to China, also have congratulated our President.
I have not heard much from our Congressman Tom McClintock, until this report popped up on KNCO:
“Nevada County’ Congressional representative, Tom McClintock says President Obama made a mistake when he decided not to release photo’s of the body of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
“I think they should have been released as a warning to every terrorist leader around the world that this fate awaits you if you kill innocent Americans. You’ve got to remember, every Al Qaida member pledges personal allegiance to Bin Laden and it’s important that they see him dead.”
“Congressman McClintock says not releasing the photos implies that we have something to hide and ads an aura of mystic to Bin Laden and he thinks it’s going to fan rampant rumors in the Middle East that Bin Laden is still alive.”
The KNCO article is here.
Yet Al-Queida itself has confirmed that Bin Laden is dead. What’s there “to hide”? (McClintock also attacked Obama for the way he handled the Libya invasion.)
What’s more, “In a geopolitical sense, it’s the right move,” as U.S. News and World Report states. “U.S. efforts in the war on terror were not exactly helped when the video of Saddam Hussein swinging at the end of a rope made its way around the world. It rallied the bad guys while forcing the good guys into the position of apologizing for an outcome that resulted from the most western of traditions, trial by a jury of one’s peers.”
The article is here.
There is a distasteful pattern developing here from some ranks of the hard right, who seem intent on undermining our President’s credibility at every step, well beyond engaging in healthy political discourse.
This comes after doubt is STILL being expressed about Obama birthplace, even after he released his birth certificate — something no other president has been forced to do.
A typical example comes from our local hard right political blogs, often the armpit of political discourse, even though the local media has elevated them to “community commentators”:
“Now that the forged birth certificate is exposed, Obaman will not seek re-election.
“This will either be a voluntary decision, or the result of an impeachment.
“The people were willing to forgive Clinton’s perjury because it was tied to his sec scandal.
“The people will NOT forgive Obama for his act of forgery by manufacturing his Birth Certificate.
–John Galt”
It is a disrespectful and distasteful attitude toward our “Commander in Chief.” But most of all it undermines the credibility of Obama’s opponents, not the President, I would argue. In our community, it makes us look “backwater.”
When Obama was elected President, I was hoping it would show what a “colorblind” society we were becoming. To the contrary, it has shown how low we have sunk in our political discourse.
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