The Smithian

December 10th, 2012

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The…acclaim Zero Dark Thirty is already receiving suggests that it may do what Karl Rove could not have done with all the money in the world: Embed in the popular imagination the efficacy, even the necessity, of torture, despite available evidence to the contrary.

more.

The…acclaim Zero Dark Thirty is already receiving suggests that it may do what Karl Rove could not have done with all the money in the world: Embed in the popular imagination the efficacy, even the necessity, of torture, despite available evidence to the contrary.

more.

September 11th, 2012

thesmithian

Snoop “realistically” on Obama, Clinton, Bush, and “most hated, most wanted.”

September 11th, 2012

thesmithian

None of us will ever forget where we were on that terrible September day when our country was attacked. All of us will always remember the image of President Bush standing on that pile of rubble, bullhorn in hand, conveying extraordinary strength and resolve to the American people but also representing the strength and resolve of the American people. And last year, when we delivered justice to Osama bin Laden, I made it clear that our success was due to many people in many organizations working together over many years—across two administrations. That’s why my first call once American forces were safely out of harm’s way was to President Bush. Because protecting our country is neither the work of one person, nor the task of one period of time, it’s an ongoing obligation that we all share.

President Obama, May 2012.

Though others disregard what he said.

August 22nd, 2012

thesmithian

Zoom

A detailed first-person account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, written under a pseudonym by a member of the Navy SEALs who participated in the mission and was present at bin Laden’s death, will…be released on Sept. 11…The author’s name will be listed as Mark Owen…For security reasons, he used a pseudonym and changed the names of other SEAL members.

more.

A detailed first-person account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, written under a pseudonym by a member of the Navy SEALs who participated in the mission and was present at bin Laden’s death, will…be released on Sept. 11…The author’s name will be listed as Mark Owen…For security reasons, he used a pseudonym and changed the names of other SEAL members.

more.

August 16th, 2012

thesmithian

The president and his national security team—I’m not a political guy, but I will tell you as, as an interested observer in this—they were magnificent in how they handled it start to finish…At the end of the day, make no mistake about it, it was the president of the United States that shouldered the burden for this operation, that made the hard decisions, that was instrumental in the planning process, because I pitched every plan to him.

Adm. William H. McRaven of the US Navy

who oversaw the [Bin Laden] raid as commander of the Joint Special Operations Command

more. and, meanwhile, there is of course this.

August 11th, 2012

thesmithian

'...Whatever happens—Navy SEALs kill Osama bin Laden, job growth accelerates, job growth slows, the Supreme Court O.K.’s Obamacare—the basic outlines of the race remain the same: Obama narrowly ahead but with a lead that falls within the margin of error. Suddenly, there’s a very different picture: Obama pulling away. What accounts for it?'

April 25th, 2012

thesmithian

The president was more somber than in our past interviews—and less inclined to depart from the handful of themes he had been concentrating on in recent weeks. He avoided discussing Mitt Romney, even when asked a direct question, and focused primarily on the very real constraints he operates under as president, from the intransigence of Congress to the dilemma of America’s anti-drug laws. He also seemed intent on summing up the arguments he’ll soon be taking out on the campaign trail, making clear that he plans to run on his remarkable record of accomplishments: extending health insurance to 32 million Americans, staving off a major economic collapse, rescuing the auto industry, reforming student loans, ending discrimination against gay soldiers, pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, killing Osama bin Laden, and passing one of the largest middle-class tax cuts in history. The hourlong discussion was the longest and most substantive interview the president has granted in over a year.

more.

March 30th, 2012

thesmithian

No matter what he does—rescuing the unemployed, insuring people with pre-existing conditions, getting us out of Iraq, ridding the world of bin Laden—the obscuring hoodie of his uncharacteristic life plunges his actions into a troubling darkness. No matter how familiar his face has become, half the country still cannot recognize him. The deranged “Stand Your Ground Law” that has had the effect of legalizing murder in Florida got on the books before Obama’s election. But since Obama became president, paranoia and hysteria have fueled the opposition to him, and laws making it easier to carry concealed weapons have proliferated throughout the country. Make no mistake about it. Forged in paranoia and hysteria, Zimmerman’s killing of Trayvon Martin was no less than a surrogate assassination of our alarming black president.

Lee Siegel, at The Daily Beast.

February 18th, 2012

thesmithian

‘For the past three years America has been walking softly, and it’s working very, very well.’

Ten years back, America often found itself isolated, struggling…Lately, we have been finding ourselves in the majority, along with the democratic world, while Russia and China front a dwindling coalition of the unwilling…this reflects a smart, subtle foreign-policy presence in which we have done a vastly better job of looking at what other countries actually want, and seeing where our interests align, rather than trying to bully other countries into supporting our goals. To some extent, it’s luck: the Arab spring happened.And to some extent, there’s a personal factor. Look through the Pew Global Attitudes project data on confidence in the US president…Commentators who envision Barack Obama running on his foreign-policy successes in this year’s campaign generally adduce examples like the assassination of Osama bin Laden and the crippling of al-Qaeda. Perhaps these are the examples that figure most clearly in the American voter’s imagination. It would be nice, though, if voters evaluated presidents’ foreign policies on the basis of whether they had won the respect of the world and advanced American interests internationally.

bold, ours. more.

February 17th, 2012

thesmithian

'...Obama’s approval on the economy, which has been well under water for more than a year, is on its way back to even in the CBS/NYT numbers and elsewhere. The new data shows 44 percent of Americans approve of Obama’s handling of the economy against 50 percent who don’t, fueling the highest overall approval rating Obama’s had in the CBS/NYT numbers since the death of Osama bin Laden at 50 - 43.'

December 17th, 2011

thesmithian

Zoom

Obama, whatever you may feel about some (many) of his decisions, bears absolutely no resemblance to the timorous, apologizing guy of the right’s fantasies. He compromises too much, but that’s out of a false sense of what will work, not lack of nerve; he can be very steely and gutsy. And yes, he did take down bin Laden, and has been altogether a much more effective enemy to Al Qaeda than Bush ever was. But [Mitt] Romney doesn’t care. He’s playing to the base, and counting on the media either to cover up his lies, or pretend that both sides do it.

more.

Obama, whatever you may feel about some (many) of his decisions, bears absolutely no resemblance to the timorous, apologizing guy of the right’s fantasies. He compromises too much, but that’s out of a false sense of what will work, not lack of nerve; he can be very steely and gutsy. And yes, he did take down bin Laden, and has been altogether a much more effective enemy to Al Qaeda than Bush ever was. But [Mitt] Romney doesn’t care. He’s playing to the base, and counting on the media either to cover up his lies, or pretend that both sides do it.

more.

October 20th, 2011

thesmithian

Obama is responsible for an aggressive assault on Al Qaeda, including the killing of bin Laden, in Pakistan, and of Anwar al-Awlaki, in Yemen. Beginning with his 2009 speech in Cairo, the President has walked a deliberate, effective path on the question of Arab uprisings, encouraging forces of liberation in the region without ignoring the complexities of each country or threatening Iraq-style interventions. He has drawn down forces in Iraq and Afghanistan; awakened to the miserable realities of Pakistan and Iran; and, most recently, played a crucial role, without loss of American lives, in the overthrow of the world’s longest-reigning dictator. If a Republican had been responsible for the foreign-policy markers of the past three years, the Party would be commissioning statues. In Tripoli, Benghazi, and Surt, last week, Obama won words of praise; on Republican debate platforms, there was only mindless posturing. In an election year, the world is too little with us.

more.

Obama is responsible for an aggressive assault on Al Qaeda, including the killing of bin Laden, in Pakistan, and of Anwar al-Awlaki, in Yemen. Beginning with his 2009 speech in Cairo, the President has walked a deliberate, effective path on the question of Arab uprisings, encouraging forces of liberation in the region without ignoring the complexities of each country or threatening Iraq-style interventions. He has drawn down forces in Iraq and Afghanistan; awakened to the miserable realities of Pakistan and Iran; and, most recently, played a crucial role, without loss of American lives, in the overthrow of the world’s longest-reigning dictator. If a Republican had been responsible for the foreign-policy markers of the past three years, the Party would be commissioning statues. In Tripoli, Benghazi, and Surt, last week, Obama won words of praise; on Republican debate platforms, there was only mindless posturing. In an election year, the world is too little with us.

more.

October 17th, 2011

thesmithian

Zoom

…a study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism finds that, in the past five months…Obama has received the most…negative press of any of the presidential candidates by a wide margin, with negative assessments outweighing positive ones by four to one…9% of the president’s coverage was positive, while 34% was negative—a stark contrast to the 32% positive coverage and 20% negative that it found Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the most covered Republican, received. “His coverage has been substantially more negative in every one of the last 23 weeks of the last five months—even the week that Bin Laden was killed,” Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, said of the president’s treatment in the media…

more.

…a study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism finds that, in the past five months…Obama has received the most…negative press of any of the presidential candidates by a wide margin, with negative assessments outweighing positive ones by four to one…9% of the president’s coverage was positive, while 34% was negative—a stark contrast to the 32% positive coverage and 20% negative that it found Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the most covered Republican, received. “His coverage has been substantially more negative in every one of the last 23 weeks of the last five months—even the week that Bin Laden was killed,” Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, said of the president’s treatment in the media…

more.

September 4th, 2011

thesmithian

Zoom

August 6th, 2011

thesmithian

‘Here are the political accomplishments:’

defeating the most heavily favored party machine in decades (the Clintons) while actually bringing his biggest rival into his cabinet, where she has performed extraordinarily well; helping to cement the GOP’s broad identity as extremists opposed to compromise; entrenching black and Hispanic loyalty to his party; retaining solid favorables and not-too-shabby approval ratings during the worst recession since the 1930s. 44 percent of the country still (rightly) blame Bush for this mess, only 15 percent blame Obama.

On policy: ending the US torture regime; prevention of a second Great Depression; enacting universal healthcare; taking the first serious steps toward reining in healthcare costs; two new female Supreme Court Justices; ending the gay ban in the military; ending the Iraq war; justifying his Afghan Surge by killing bin Laden and now disentangling with face saved; firming up alliances with India, Indonesia and Japan as counter-weights to China; bailing out the banks and auto companies without massive losses (and surging GM profits); advancing (slowly) balanced debt reduction without drastic cuts during the recession; and financial re-regulation.

Yes, there have been failures. The election of Scott Brown; the 2010 mid-terms; the surrender to Netanyahu and AIPAC; the botched and ill-conceived war in Libya; the failure to embrace Bowles Simpson up-front; the collapse of cap and trade (maybe not such a bad thing anyway). But notice what hasn’t happened. Where are all the scandals promised by Michelle Malkin? Where are his Katrinas and Monicas?

more from Andrew Sullivan at TDB, here.