Obama: Will his re-election hopes be realized thanks to bin Laden’s death?

<p>WASHINGTON – Friends and foes alike had high praise on Monday for the biggest achievement of Barack Obama’s presidency _ bringing Osama bin Laden to justice years after his predecessor, George W. Bush, pledged in vain to do the same.</p> <p>After years of fending off accusations from the right that he’s soft on terror, Obama was lauded as a commander-in-chief with resolve and determination following the death of bin Laden in Pakistan when the president ordered U.S. Navy SEALS to move in for the kill.</p> <p>Even former vice-president Dick Cheney, a relentless critic of Obama’s anti-terror policies for three years, called the killing “a tremendous achievement for the military and intelligence professionals who carried out this important mission.”</p> <p>”I also want to congratulate President Obama and the members of his national security team,” Cheney said.</p> <p>Donald Trump, reportedly still smarting from a series of well-aimed zingers from Obama and comic Seth Meyer at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner over the weekend, was both complimentary and conciliatory.</p> <p>”I want to personally congratulate President Obama and the men and women of the armed forces for a job well done,” Trump, currently flirting with a run for the Republican nomination, said in a statement.</p> <p>”We should spend the next several days not debating party politics, but in remembrance of those who lost their lives on 9-11 and those currently fighting for our freedom.”</p> <p>Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor who’s formally announced he’s seeking the Republican nomination, also praised the president by name.</p> <p>”I want to congratulate America’s armed forces and President Obama for a job well done,” Pawlenty wrote on his website.</p> <p>Bin Laden’s death, indeed, couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment for Obama, whose poll numbers have been steadily sliding as the country’s economic recovery stalls and gasoline prices soar. They’re currently hovering below 50 per cent according to most recent surveys.</p> <p>Obama has also been personally vexed by so-called birthers, recently championed by Trump, who don’t believe he was born on U.S. soil.</p> <p>The White House released the president’s long-form Hawaiian birth certificate last week amid Trump’s efforts to stir up the issue, and Obama ridiculed the real estate mogul for his birther stance at the White House correspondents dinner, held on the eve of the momentous news about bin Laden.</p> <p>Pollsters and pundits predict Obama will see a significant bounce in public opinion polls thanks to the bin Laden news, though how long his numbers stay elevated remains to be seen if gas prices stay high and the unemployment rate, currently at eight per cent, refuses to budge.</p> <p>Public delight about wartime victories can indeed be fleeting if two recent triumphs are any indication _ victory in the first Gulf war in 1991 under George H. W. Bush and the capture of Saddam Hussein in December 2003 during his son’s administration.</p> <p>The poll numbers for the man known as Dubya jumped about seven per cent following Saddam’s capture, but less than two months later they plunged to the lowest level of his presidency.</p> <p>His father had soared to a 90 per cent public approval rating following the first Gulf War. But as a recession took hold, Democratic candidate Bill Clinton condemned George H. W. Bush to a one-term presidency.</p> <p>”Overall, the economy will be the dominant issue and if it gets worse, getting rid of Osama bin Laden will not be terribly determinative,” Dotty Lynch, a communications expert at American University in Washington, said in an interview.</p> <p>”But I don’t see how it can hurt. It shows not just a victory in getting the enemy, it demonstrates a competence and a real resolve in his presidency, his administration and the CIA. This is definitely a boost to him and shows that his national security team is extremely competent, and clearly more competent than that of his predecessor’s.” </p> <p>Lynch pointed out that the first Gulf War victory did not involve avenging the deaths of thousands of Americans on U.S. soil. Instead, it was about driving Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.</p> <p>”It isn’t just rallying around Obama at a time of war. This is a ‘We got this guy’ years after 9-11, so it’s a different sort of celebration, a very meaningful one.”</p> <p>Indeed, across the United States, Americans gathered to celebrate the news, including at so-called Ground Zero, the former site of the World Trade Center’s iconic Twin Towers. Al Qaida operatives under bin Laden’s orders flew fuel-engorged jetliners into the towers on Sept. 11, 2001, killing almost 3,000 people.</p> <p>In a recession-weary country deeply polarized along political lines, the news has undoubtedly been a morale boost, met with elation _ and some silliness _ by Americans from all walks of life.</p> <p>On the streets of the U.S. capital, vendors selling T-shirts reading: “Obama Got Osama” were doing a brisk business.</p> <p>”They’re selling like crazy _ I had to send my guy off to go run off thousands more,” one street vendor said.</p>