“A president who kills America’s enemies without swagger is better than a swaggerer who doesn’t kill America’s enemies”

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Jeffrey Goldberg:

A Revealing Photo

No, not the soon-to-be-released Bin Laden-shot-in-the-head photo (which could become one of the most viewed photographs in history), but the photo of the President and his advisers in the White House situation room. Why amazing? Because the President seems so small and peripheral to the action. He is hunched down, seated on the margins of the meeting, seemingly trying not to take up space. It appears as if he couldn’t even find a place to put his jacket. By contrast, Tom Donilon, the national security adviser, practically bestrides the room like a Colossus (an affable Colossus, if you know him). I was struck, when I saw this photo, that the Bush White House would have ever released a similar photograph. This is not to cast aspersions on Bush, but could you seriously imagine his public relations releasing an image of him leading from behind, as it were?

///

The positive interpretation is that the President is so confident in his power that he is comfortable even in a corner. This speaks well of him, to my mind; a president who kills America’s enemies without swagger is better than a swaggerer who doesn’t kill America’s enemies. (Maybe here I’m casting a few aspersions on Bush.)

//

Look at the photo below: No evidence of a Barack Obama power pose there. Just power:

127 thoughts on ““A president who kills America’s enemies without swagger is better than a swaggerer who doesn’t kill America’s enemies””

  3. He is confident in his abilities therefore he is willing to delegate his authority. That’s our Presiedent.

  4. Dick Cheney, too, would have required a closer pose, too. Oh and let’s not forget Condi. And “pose” being the key word, I think. ugh!

  5. Can I just say that the GOP pundit Ami Holmes, sitting on MSNBC right now drumming the beat that Obama is not shown as a strong and decisive leader, and that he needs to go to Ground Zero [like Dubya] because he doesn’t get it where Americans are coming from, and needs to release the pictures… will help him? I just about quoted her, too.

    She infuriates me! STFU Amy. I don’t care what you think! You just make me angry when you describe our President as you do every time you get your face before a camera!

  6. she is a dit brain who only likes looking at her self in the mirror of the camera. Her arguments never make sense, she left Cnn and now on msnbc.

  7. She, and almost every one of the talking heads that appears on my teevee, is the reason I don’t watch any of the so-called “news” programs. Save your blood pressure, KCSF. It’s just not worth it. As long as we know the facts and can spread them to others, we don’t need the MSM.

  8. I wouldn’t release the photos(s). I don’t think anything is gained – folks who don’t want to believe it will just say it’s a fake anyways. I don’t think there is anybody truly on the fence on this – either you believe he’s dead or believe it is a big fake out and the picture release will not change any opinions.

    I’ll understand if they are released, but I hope they’re not.

  9. President Obama sees no victory in killing. He sees victory when he is protecting the country. He does’nt marvel in this he made a decision that his job calls for him. Protecting the American people.

  11. I should turn it off, because now Chuck Todd just pissed me off .

    Deep breaths.. deep breaths. 😦

  12. She’s making the rounds? Or do you mean she’s been formally hired by MSNBC after being on CNN?

    I confess I have not followed her career and it’s been the last year or more that she’s caught my attention with her snark and bark at our President.

    Shame on her.

  13. yes she was a analyst for Cnn. Now sees a analyst for Msnbc. I don’t know what happen but she use to be a regular for Cnn. Especially during the election. she also is a regular guest on Bill Mahr.

  14. I agree, St. R. I think it’s a bad idea. I’m afraid it will inflame some Muslims who don’t agree with the U.S. killing OBL. I also believe that no matter what PBO does regarding the photos, there will always be some who will create conspiracy theories to validate their claim that the photos aren’t real and attempt to damage the president’s leadership skills. The wackos did the same thing last week when PBO released the original copy of this birth certificate. If I were PBO, I’d let the doubters stew in their own juices. Sane people understand that some information shouldn’t be released, and that neither the president, nor the military, would engage in damaging their credibility by lying about OBL’s death. IIRC, the Pakistani government has already verified that OBL is dead as a door knob.

  15. I love the title of this article. Hot damn!

    —-PJ (still boycotting the news media…except for Lawrence O’Donnell…for now :-))

  16. One of the many reasons I wish God would have Tim Russert live, Chuck Todd, the other David Gregory.

  18. I completely agree with you guys. People who are trained to deal with gruesome corpses and photos have verified that President Obama has told the truth. I have NO desire to see obl’s corpse sitting on the front page of every newspaper and every low grade idiot with access to iron-on transfer paper walking around with a picture of this on a t-shirt.

    I find the “demands” to see pictures of obl lying dead and shot in the head to be ghoulish.

    Like SR, I’ll understand if the WH chooses to release the photos, but if I had my way, they’d stay out of the press.

  19. thank you. I rarely watch Maher, so would have missed her. I can only imagine what BS she offers on that show. :/

  22. I was hoping someone would find the picture of Obama with the holes in his shoes. I love that photo. It is on the same level as the above photo. This is a man who is entirely comfortable with himself and allows others to do their job.

    I love this President!

  23. Interesting! I was googling him and found this article, and the last paragraphs are curious! (Why Bush?)

    “Of note is that Mohammed al-Qahtani flew to Orlando, Florida from Dubai in August 2001, a month before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but was sent back to Dubai by U.S. immigration authorities dubious about whether he intended to be an illegal immigrant to the country. U.S. interrogators later said they found airport video surveillance showing the car of lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta waiting to pick al-Qahtani up at the Orlando airport.

    But the United States dropped charges against Mohammed al-Qahtani in May 2008, for reasons it did not disclose, but presumably related to the inadmissability of evidence obtained under torture. Al-Qahtani is still detained at Gitmo, but his habeas corpus case was reinstated after a Supreme Court ruling in 2008.”
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theenvoy/20110504/ts_yblog_theenvoy/al-qaeda-member-surrenders-saudi-arabia-says

  24. makesense, see my post below that should have fallen under yours because I did reply to you, but… (why do my posts not always fall where they should?)

    Yeah, read my post below… thanks!

  25. The media is such trash most of the time. Just the other day i told comcast to bugger off and cancelled my $100/mo cable bill. (stuck having internet thru them)

    It felt good to cancel. Also, if you think about it, our cable bills support and subsidize all this political B.S. and nonsense against our president. (see trump)

    I would love love to see a concerted effort to get progressives and democrats to cancel or scale back their cable as much as possible.

  26. I wish I could get off Comcast, too. Unfortunately, it’s all I have in my area. But I agree with all you say!!!

  27. I sure agree with him about Cenk. The man can barely read much less give our President advice. What an asshat that guy is. I think he sits over at Hamsher’s site and gets his “leads” from her. pffft.

  28. Thanks for posting this article. I read some nonsense today saying this photo was “unfortunate” I guess POTUS should have strapped on the codpiece and stood on an aircraft carrier…oh wait.

  29. Actually I don’t see that picture the way it is being portrayed here. The guy in the middle (I presume he is the JSOC Chief) is operating that computer and PBO is sitting right next to him. Don’t punditz have anything better do than navel gaze at a picture ?

  30. Ok, folks. My posts are NOT falling under the people I want to respond to. WTH! Frustrating me all to hell.

    Sorry if I seem out of context everywhere. 😦

  31. That photo of PBO is one of my favorites and I kept a copy of it. Way back when we were really broke, I discovered my own Hubby with holes in his shoes like that. When I challenged him about it, his response was:

    “Our children needed shoes more than I do.”

    I adore men with holes in their shoes. It tells me they care more for others than themselves.

    PBO doesn’t have to posture or act, He IS the very “best of the best.”

  32. gn, the money quote in that carpenter piece

    The accompanying horror, though, came in the realization that some of the Cenk-Dahlia Show’s progressive viewers might actually believe some of this ahistorical, self-righteous, contradictory progressive humbug.

    Ah, but my amusement quickly returned. For just as my horror and tolerance were striking three minutes, I also remembered that I was just about Cenk’s only viewer.

    Perfect. These assholes will soon drown in the sea of irrelevancy.

  33. I found your comment so beautiful!!! I tend to think that is the definition of LOVE. Putting someone else before you!

  34. AMEN squared and cubed to that, majii. I won’t watch those poisonous quackers any more.

  35. Anybody who would want/expect a “photo-op” pic from the President at that very moment wants a very stupid President. Because not to understand he just signed off on putting lives at risk with the riskier(though necessary) mission, the possibility for a huge international incident with a nuclear power if Bin Laden isn’t there (given a 60-80% chance by Panetta – based on circumstantial evidence) and if anything goes remotely wrong it would probably end his Presidency and hand the country over to the fringe nut Republicans in 2012 – I’d either be puking my guts out due to nerves or have to be sedated into a near medically enduced coma given those stakes. To want the photo-op President would be wanting a President so utterly unaware of the stakes, or happy-go-lucky enough not to care.

    I mean think of how many people can’t watch close sporting events because it’s too stressful when “their team” is in it, and those that do watch have their hearts in their throats – basically multiply that by a million billion.

  36. Slow down,

    Hey ya’ll slow down to defend Mr. President, he is not in need of the defense of his ways. He has so much integrity he actually defeated OBL and did not revell in it. I say as an American I am glad for OBL to be gone, I am ashamed that America is revelling in the death of a human being, no matter, When it comes to True Christian values we should all follow in President Obama’s example and move forward ~~it is done, Move ON People MOVE ON!!

    The other countries in the world accept he(OBL) is gone, I read Chinese news daily, to get a more balanced perspective of world events and they do not question the validity of the mission. How much media has to say is only given when we allow them a voice, if everyone would stop with the Revelling it would pass. Now I just read a yahoo article where the GOP is trying to come up with a way to include GW that they actually reverted back to the children in the room the day GW got the news.That is a stretch! To give a child’s perception of an event when it happened when children have little understanding, and now they have an opinion on what they did not understand, OUTRAGEOUS !!
    That is how hard and Far they are trying to reach to get some inclusion on events !
    I ask all to remember the surge vote ?? Does anyone remember the fight on the Hill just after the elections, stir for leadership in military, how to undermine the vote, that was only a short time back?? Now all of a sudden the GOP instigated the raid, what nonsense, I know better, most who have a brain know better, it just leaves me to question the GOP methods even more !!!
    Can we please move on to stopping the Oil companies with the subsidies and the ruin of our economy, while they announce and achieve the largest profits ever !!! Please contact your state reps to ask what they intend on the subsidies and let them know you object ~
    Thanks America,
    Let’s move on to– YES WE CAN 2012

  37. @amk

    I think the point might be that Bush and Cheney would have insisted they have their faces published with the others in the background, or something like that. We all know that they were posers. On all levels.

    I recall the photos of Rice and Cheney and Karen Hughes, posing in their chamber when they were huddled with others to watch the towers come down? You can bet they had photos taken specifically with them as the key faces, not sitting in the back corner of a conference table. I also recall that the photos were edited to take others out as they zoomed in on their faces when finally published in newspapers, magazines, etc., even as other people were sitting around the table. The Bush administration was very aware of how they handled PR press released photos to the media.

  38. I totally agree with you GN. OBL’s mortal remains have been given back to the Sea, our Mother, where all life began. Let Spirit deal with his soul and let this be finally finished.

  42. Ok. So the decision has been made by Mr. President to NOT show the photos of OBL’s demise.

  43. Yup, SR. That’s how I see it. Nothing to see here.

    Frankly, I don’t like this goldberg piece at all. It’s just yet another distraction. My $0.02.

  44. I am glad that the Bin Laden photo will not be released for the sake of Americans and troops abroad.

  45. “Osama Bin Laden is not a trophy…” ~ President Obama

    Now, can you imagine that Bush would have said that? HELL NO! AND he would have brought back his turbin and anything else he could get his evil hands on, and put it on his desk, just like he did with Saddam’s handgun.

    I love my President!

  46. Excellent decision. Let the media go and take a collective dive in the arabian sea if they wanted to see the ‘proof’.

    All this die down by this weekend.

  49. Yeah, President Obama said himself that conspiracy theorists will believe that the photos were phony and doctored anyway.

  50. lol! 😀

    With every day that passes, our President comes out with the best comments to slap down the stupid. He’s brilliant.

  52. btw, Sreenath are you from India ? I am and welcome to bwd’s world. 🙂

  54. What’s that saying? “Heavy is the head that wears the crown?” Anyway, I would feel “uneasy” if the president were looking as if he was taking joy in what he was witnessing. I mean, I can’t explain it, but it’s one thing to want to “destroy” your enemies, it’s quite another thing to actually do it. I don’t believe the president regretted for one minute his decisions, however, I’m sure it must not have been easy to watch. It must be like watching a convicted murderer being executed.

  55. I am waiting for Jay Carney to answer questions from the jackals right now. You can bet that just about every question will be about the decision NOT to release any photos. Each reporter will take turns trying to ask the same question with a different spin.

    1) Why not release the photos?
    2) Don’t you think people need to see proof?
    3) Who has seen the photos?
    4) Where are the photos?
    5) Who did President Obama consult about not releasing the photos?
    6) Was there debate about whether to release photos?
    7) fill in the blank….

    Bottom line, conspiracy theorists will never be satisfied no matter what is done. They will continue to move the goalposts because they need an anchor to keep their suspicions going indefinitely.

    President Obama has done the right thing by not releasing any photos. I new he would do the right thing.

  56. correction on twitter. The President didn’t say that. Someone else did.

  57. Have you all noticed how hard the media is working towards pulling out another scary head of al Qaida out of the hat? Our President finding and killing OBL is old hat now?

    On with talking about the next head of the snake or as Tamara Hall on MSNB just asked, “Who is going to fill his shoes?” For two days now I’ve heard the anchors begin the hunt for another. Could they give it a few days or weeks to speak about the “spin offs” from OBL? wow.

    President Obama is so busy he’s not listening to this craziness on the networks. But damn it’s hard to not notice the frantic remarks. I’m turning it off, after I here Carney. 🙂

  58. HMM. The WH Reporter said he was quoting the President from his interview with CBS on 60 Minutes.

  61. What a great man President Obama is. He continues to impress and impress and impress.

    The media wants to sell newspapers and an edition with obl’s corpse would be a collection item and would sell out. Except that truly, do we need these images in our lives and do we need to behave this way?

    I am in one thousand percent support of President Obama’s decision as well as his wisdom and leadership with respect to moving on.

  62. Carney should say what the Prez said – he is not a trophy – and move on. Don’t try to rationalize it beyond what the press said.

    Frankly,I have not been impressed with carney on this obl issue so far. Too much fumbling bad led by the nose by the media.

  63. He corrected himself and clarified on twitter saying it was Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers. He also indicates that there might have been partisan pushback at “Obama” for those quotes, but the tune changed now that it came from Rogers.

    However Carney read an Obama statement on the issue during the presser that used the “trophy” analogy as well – I wonder if this statement was released to those on the congressional intelligence and Rogers ripped it off.

  65. Good. I trust his judgment.

    I wouldn’t mind at some point seeing a painstakingly factual re-enactment, perhaps narrated by in-the-know personnel and the President himself. Maybe in documentary format. I am a details geek like that. But for now, I’m comfortable knowing and trusting that this monster is anchored to the bottom of the sea.

    I do hope the 9/11 families will have the option to view, if possible.

    It’s been a long ten years, sigh….

    Viva Obama.

    —-PJ (still boycotting the news media…except for Lawrence O’Donnell…for now :-))

  66. Actually I imagine the “shoe filler” conversation thusly.

    You do it.

    No, you do it. You were his pet.

    No, I was not. You were.

    ….

    Let him do it.

    Hey.

  67. Who knows. I guess if we watch 60 minutes we will see who said it first. It is confusing.

    I must say, however, that Carney is doing a great job with his answers to the press questions, today.

  69. I’m glad the photo isn’t being shown. The days of putting your enemy’s head on a pike outside the city walls are gone.

  70. Yes. I think carney has been given a whoopass by the president for his last PC. Just repeat the talking points of the admin. After all, you’re the spokesperson of the WH. How hard it can be when even nitwits like dana perino could do it ?

  71. KayCeSF that happens to me sometimes to . thanks for responding.

  72. Thanks for the heads up! I looked up an article about it on the internet and was glad to find that one of my sorry old senators, Suxby Chambliss, admits to having seen the photos. Maybe the rw nuts here in Ga will finally believe that OBL is dead and stop creating OBL deather conspiracies.

  73. I agree with you Saint Roscoe. I hope President Obama decides not to release the photos. I trust that whatever decision he makes it will be based on what he thinks is the right one for this country and the regions in the ME.

  74. Here’s a very interesting quote from the Dalai Lama in regards to OBL’s death:

    Yet, in an appearance Tuesday at USC, he appeared to suggest that the United States was justified in killing Osama bin Laden.

    As a human being, Bin Laden may have deserved compassion and even forgiveness, the Dalai Lama said in answer to a question about the assassination of the Al Qaeda leader. But, he said, “Forgiveness doesn’t mean forget what happened. … If something is serious and it is necessary to take counter-measures, you have to take counter-measures.”

    I wonder what people who live in a black-and-white world will make of that. “Oh, he’s just another warmongering imperialist.”

  76. Let me first say that I do not believe “The Obama Diary” (Chipsticks’) analysis that several UK tabloids were wrong and the respected US press was right that this room full of people were just looking at a TV image of Leon Panetta “updating” them on the action in Abbottabad.

    It just doesn’t square. Politicians in power to decide over life and death of their constituents every day (think ACA) don’t watch a CIA director explaining a Special Ops action on a TV screen that way.

    That said, I’m absolutely sure the last thing Mr. Obama was concerned about is how he looked like on a Pete Souza photograph.

    It’s the White House designated photographer’s prerogative to know when to press the button – it’s the White House PR department that should decide whether this is a photograph for public consumption.

    The same goes for a photograph (labeled “gruesome” by the White House) of the corpse of Osama bin Laden, or the clip of his “burial at sea”.

  77. Regarding not releasing photos. Pitch-perfect decision. PBO’s quote on this issue will be on CBS news tonight. Plus…no speech tomorrow, just silence, wreath laying…again, pitch-perfect.

  79. No matter what happens, the Republican narrative gets the attention. Naturally, this is because the GOP wants to distract attention from any positive news about President Obama. Steve Benen documents the atrocities.

    THE ABRUPT CONVERSATIONAL DETOUR….

    No one, least of all the White House, should be surprised.

    Officials inside the Obama administration have grown discouraged by the abruptness with which the news over the killing of Osama bin Laden has turned into a debate over the efficacy of harsh interrogation techniques and torture.

    Just days after the al Qaeda header was killed in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, the political conversation has shifted from the implications of the assassination to questions of whether the waterboarding of valuable detainees was crucial in gathering intelligence on bin Laden’s whereabouts.

    Defenders of the interrogation technique raised the issue, earning write-ups in several high-profile publications, including The New York Times and Time magazine. It was also put forward in most bin Laden-related news interviews with Obama officials.

    The moral of the story is simple: the political world tends to talk about whatever Republicans want to talk about.

    http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_05/029288.php

  81. I’m with you!

    We never had cable TV until the old rabbit ears reception became defunct. Then we bit the bullet and got cable so the Grandkiddos could watch PBS Kids.

    We find cable irritating and not worth the money.

  82. I am only speaking of the politics here and I have to disagree with you. Half of that low-information voter will cool on this issue if the pictures are not shown. They are easily swayed, and would be less inclined if there was photographic proof.

    It shouldn’t be necessary. It may truly be in our national security interest to NOT show the pictures (although I question if the showing or not showing can be spun to advantage by al-Qaeda and the like) but politically Obama is only going to lose by making this choice. It’s not about the batshit 30%, it’s about the other 20% that unfortunately decide elections in America.

  83. Let’s talk about contrast.

    I noticed that too about this photo. If you didn’t know who the POTUS was, would you pick the guy sitting to the left, not in the center, not in the big chair?

    Now remember another image: Bush, pretending to fly a jet to the Abraham Lincoln, which was five miles off San Diego at the time, well within helicopter range. Bush, in his flyboy outfit (in pristine condition, since he only “served” in Texas and Alabama)stalking around the deck, smirking for the cameras. The unfurling of the “Mission Accomplished” banner, brought by Bush’s aides, though they just had to say it was a “spontaneous” act by the AL’s sailors. Then the declaration of “end of combat operations” in Iraq…eight full years before someone else actually ended them.

    Bush…swaggering, center stage, in a stunt that cost the American taxpayers who knows how much.

    And then Obama…who actually ended combat operations in Iraq, who actually got Osama Bin Laden…..walks to a microphone, makes the announcement, calmly and quietly.

    What a contrast. What an incredible contrast.

  84. I’m pissed at all of the Democratic messaging. Why can’t they use a victory to their advantage?

    I left a comment on the other thread concerning the amazing message discipline of Republicans. Truly astounding on this issue. Here’s the comment because it appears to be germaine to Jay Carney’s work and other Democrats:

    The message discipline of Republicans is an astounding achievement. I mean, mind-boggling astounding. And Democrats fumble.

    Kay Bailey Hutchinson on the Senate floor wove a seamless tale that never mentioned President Obama but credited the ongoing commitment of the last 10 years and the thousands of people who contributed to this success.

    Douglas Feith was an absolute master. Using Panetta’s fumble on interrogation techniques (seriously, Leon? There was no memo on how to phrase that issue? Seriously?) to give credit to torture. “That’s what Secy Panetta said”. And frankly, he did. Enough so that they could use this like a stake.

    About the decision to not show the pictures of OBL: “It’s always in the national interest to be as open as possible, unless there’s a compelling security risk. Evidently, President Obama had chosen to remain secretive.”

    All on the same page. All able to do it with a look of sincerity. Astounding.

    We’re not ‘losing’ the battle on this one, but we’re not capitalizing like we should and we’ve ceded ground to the masters whom we are unable to copy.

    This is what drives me nuts.

  87. So this is what they’re saying? That two straight days of the WH saying they were watching and listening to the action in real time was not true? Seriously?

    I’m gonna lose it today.

  88. I agree, we need to focus on the budget debate.

    My spin on it.

    Obama never gave up on finding Ben Laden, and he will never give up on working families

    He will fight for medicare, education, energy, he won’t seek glory for what he has accomplished but will keep plugging until he gets the job done.

    We can help by holding Congressional Dems feet tot he fire. Go Harry Reid and the budget vote. Let’s reform the tax code. etc..

  89. Panetta has made some rather glaring mistakes about some important issues in the last couple of days. Very, very annoying.

  90. Folks, I just have to share this here:

    QUOTE FROM: Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who:
    “chided the White House for appearing to exploit Bin Laden’s demise”

    Quote: “I think we can get in trouble if people try to misuse this for political or propaganda gains. I don’t think that’s going to be helpful at the end of the day.” END QUOTE

    Here’s the email I sent the Rep Rogers:

    ‘If President Bush had managed to accomplish the death of Osama Bin Laden eight years ago I suspect you all would have wished to fly his dead body from the White House flag pole with George Bush grinning in the foreground.

    Don’t get all sanctimonious about the “politics” because this President, a Democrat
    managed to do what Bush failed to do. President Obama will resist parading Bin Laden’s dead body because he is a decent man who doesn’t gloat and he actually has respect for all human beings even for our worst enemies.

    Go pedal your hypocrisy on a street corner somewhere that no one can notice.’

    End my rant.

  92. @ makesense Re: your response to my response to your yahoo article!

    YW, makesense! I guess I’ll start off all my posts with a reference and to whom I’m responding. LOL!

  95. Good for you! I swear I was just screaming at my television when Douglas Feigh (understudy dept. of defense under Bush) was on MSNBC. He sat there lying between his teeth about the reasons for going into Iraq, as they all do, each day it being a different reason depending on the questioning and issue of the day, and then he tried to stand with Cheney’s remarks about how the intelligence (waterboarding) probably gave Obama a way to find OBL.

    So your post only galls me more. They are all liars and hypocrits of the first order.

    And now Dylan Ratigan… well, nvm. The news is for the birds today. Speaking of birds, I need to go take a break and feed my birds and the li’l squirrels robbing from the bird feeders. That’s okay. I like to feed them, too.

    Laters, all! ,)

  96. hahaha. re-read me. “Understudy” well, yeah, if you mean Rummy’s puppet. Edit that to say: Under Secretary of Defense for Policy for United States under Bush.

  98. WOW. Great news! Thanks for posting that.

    Ok. I’m off. Catch y’all anon.

  100. Great response to this apparent concern troll story floating around claiming that President Obama wanted to insult Native Americans or imply that Geronimo was a terrorist like bin Laden:

    *************
    This is to all the Native American people and everyone else that is misunderstanding what happened here. The United States military is very proud of the long history of service of Native Americans and frequently uses imagery and icons from our shared past. Geronimo is a extremely commonly used term in the Army to refer to bravery and invoke unit and American pride. There are many units in the Army that have native icons and names. The newest and best helicopters all have native names to detonate bravery and power. The Kiowa Warrior, The Blackhawk, The Apache, The Chinook are all names given to our best and most powerful helicopters.
    As much as people want to try and divide this country and promote their dividing views, in this situation they are completely wrong. Most Americans that have family in this country for more than two generations have Native blood running in their veins from their ancestors. Although people would look at me and call me and my wife white, my fathers family was part Iroquois and my wife is part Cherokee and our families have been here for hundreds of years..
    I served in the Army and I can tell you that any and all naming using native names is done out of respect and honor. Many, many Native Americans have died in the service of this country and have done many heroic things in the service of this country. Please do not misinterpret a naming convention that was probably simply done to acknowledge the seriousness of the operation and try to paint this as anyone being racist or that our military is institutionally racist against Native Americans. It is simply not true, you are grasping at straws and do not understand the deeply woven connections that Native Americans have provided to The United States of America and you are insulting all of us that have served, both that have Native American blood and those that are more recent arrivals.
    *************

    Quite honestly, people need to be on their toes. Whenever President Obama does something major and does something good, there is a massive dump of spin, some meant to appeal to the right, some meant to appeal to the left, with the same character attack (POTUS sucks!) at the center of it. The lefty spin is laundered through the sensationalist megasites which are now keyed into social media (this story appears to have been laundered through the dailyfox).

    But seriously, every single time POTUS makes a major move, the right works OVERTIME to turn it into something sour, negative, and nasty, and they create content tailored to appeal to lefty sensibilities as well as the classic GOP spin.

    Our task is a truly huge one, and it involves convincing people to stay on their toes and not participate in madness of this type, to use their brains, and for the media to stop repeating these Republican stories like this.

  101. I’ve been thinking that it will be one of the iconic photographs of this century. The event, the composition, the intensity of the faces. To me, it is just amazing.

  103. I think another along those lines is of him in the Oval Office bending over so the son of a White House staffer could feel his hair and make sure it was just like his. How anyone can call him aloof and remote is beyond me.

  104. Folks, we knew that the wingnuts, members of the previous administration, and their media enablers wouldn’t be cowed by PBO’s courage in ordering the mission. And really, we shouldn’t have expected them to. I truly think they realize that they are on the losing side of history, that they are yesterday’s people, and that their time is over. They have to double down on denigrating this president and this movement, because they’re desperate to hold onto their power. Yes, it’s annoying, but we should look at their spinning as the birth pangs of a new world.

  105. Her inanity and obtuseness is cringe-worthy. Who is it that sends the daily memo to these nitwits?

  108. I try to rebut that “broken promise” meme frequently over at the Orange Place. Even Rachel Maddow is guilty of that. One of her few flaws.

  110. Great catch, GN.

    I’m glad someone really pounced on this especially when I read the nasty was also broadcast from a so called “Left site” I wrote a few comments on this subject myself but this person really nailed it! The hate just goes on and on. They try to divide and conquer but WE WON’T LET THEM!

    WE CAN DO IT…TOGETHER 2012! SI, SE PUEDA!

  111. Amy Holmes only appears on tee vee when the media needs a good house negro to help’em carry the GOP’s “muddy water.” Girl BYE!

  113. I think I agree with you that the only people that should be able to view this pictures and videos are the people who lost loved ones during 911. Nobody else needs to view them.

  114. I ♥ you LL!

    Labor is indeed painful but “joy cometh in the morning of birth.”

  115. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a power house, an incredibly smart woman who is a great choice for this position.

    Plus, I just adore her for being such a good friend and supporter to Gabby Giffords through all this pain and strife.

  116. I just got these words in my head from a song….

    “seed by seed, row by row, going to make the flowers grow…”

    Thanks WiW. I love your posts.

  117. Someone zinged Chuckles Todd good on Twitter: (BWD retweeted it) to paraphrase it said that its too bad that news media wasn’t this skeptical and thorough when GWB claimed there were WMDs.

  118. When I saw this photo my first thought was how much older he looks. Oprah showed a clip of his visit to her show in 2006 and he looks about 15 years older – he doesn’t ever show the strain of the job but he certainly has aged a lot.

  119. President Obama is not going to risk national security for politics.

  120. Hi WIW
    I agree we need to apply maximum pressure but not just to democrats but to repugs too. In fact, I think we should actually focus on the repugs. I think we let them off the hook. The dems need some attention but I do not think the repugs get nearly enough attention from us.

  121. I wonder way schools ever sold or provided flavor milks in school. I’m 54 and when I went to L.A. elementary schools, we drank whole milk. My teeth we’re strong and barely a cavetie and I use to eat those jolly roger candies. So good to hear that L.A. schools will be providing regular to low fat milk.

  122. Thanks again for this site and your tenacity.

    This article is exactly what my family and I thought when we had seen the picture.

    As Mrs. Obama said in 2008, pres Obama is comfortable in his skin.

    That is why when the press where foaming over the former pres Clinton in the WH press conference room briefing and answering their questions, I wrote then, that ONLY a confident and comfortable president would have done that.

    It seems effortless how this president operates. We keep underestimating him.

    His late mother Stanley Ann Dunham and his late grand parents did an exceptional job raising him.

    I am forever grateful to them.

    Love our men and women in the military. Love our Navy SEALs. Love our president.

    May the Almighty Lord, continues to Shine His Blessings on USA and our president.

  123. I was just listening to Randi Rhodes and in the next room on this blog when Normal Goldmann came on the radio. Boy I had to go turn it off quickly as you would never know he was a Dem since he is acting like without the photo we cannot really know that the Gov or the Prez is telling us the truth.

  124. I didn’t say “thank you”.

    Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!

  125. Norman Goldman is an absolute idiot, and I don’t think he has an original thought in his head. He acts like he’s all that, but he’s actually nothing. He literally bashes the President non-stop for hours and I can’t tolerate even a minute.

  126. Very well said SR. Excuse my somewhat overwrought tone, but I would vastly prefer this President’s approach to that of the incompetent, strutting peacock we saw on the deck of that aircraft carrier some years ago. Somehow, the killing of OBL brings back with sickening clarity the uselessness of the Iraq War. What a misguided use of our power and a waste of our national wealth!

  127. I hear you, Faith. I feel the same frustration, but each time, just as I’m about to despair, the President achieves something without being partisan and aggressive. He’s a lot smarter than most of his adversaries and I’m learning, I think, to trust his instincts on what is important politically. (Clumsy way to say it, but you know what I mean?)

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