President Obama: Bin Laden raid is ‘most important single day of my presidency’

MoonHowler

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Brian Williams hosts tonight. He described this event as being the most important of his journalistic career. Rock Center with Brian Williams ‘Inside the Situation Room’ airs Wednesday 9pm/8c on NBC.

MSNBC:

“I did choose the risk,” the president said in an exclusive interview with Rock Center Anchor and Managing Editor Brian Williams. “The reason I was willing to make that decision of sending in our SEALs to try to capture or kill bin Laden rather than to take some other options was ultimately because I had 100 percent faith in the Navy SEALs themselves.”

A year after the May 1, 2011, raid on bin Laden’s compound, Obama and several of the advisers who helped plan the operation, known as “Operation Neptune’s Spear,” spoke exclusively to NBC News, reflecting on the tense months spent planning and debating the feasibility of this daring raid. The interviews occurred before the president made an unannounced visit to Kabul on Tuesday, where he and President Hamid Karzai signed an agreement on the future of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.

“This had to be such a close-held operation,” the president said in the interview airing tonight at 9pm/8c on NBC. “There were only a handful of staff in the White House who knew about this.”

The president did not share news of the mission’s launch with his staff, or with the first lady.

“Even a breath of this in the press could have chased bin Laden away,” Obama said. “We didn’t know at that point whether there might be underground tunnels coming out of that compound that would allow him to escape.”

Death of Osama helps Obama reposition in Virginia

MoonHowler

From the Washingtonpost.com:

The poll provides a view of the impact of bin Laden’s death in a state widely viewed as a bellwether for Obama’s chances for reelection nationally. The interviews were already underway when Obama delivered the news late in the evening of May 1; 677 were conducted before the announcement, with 503 afterward.

Against all five potential GOP contenders tested in the poll, Obama stretched his margins after the death of bin Laden. In a hypothetical matchup against former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, for example, interviews before the bin Laden announcement showed voters splitting 48 percent for the president and 46 percent for Romney. Afterward, Obama edged ahead, 51 to 44 percent.

Against former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and businessman Donald Trump, twin 19-point Obama advantages swelled to 31 points in interviews conducted in the three days after bin Laden’s death.

Still, big vulnerabilities remain for the president, the first Democratic presidential nominee to win Virginia in more than 40 years. More than half of all Virginia voters are dissatisfied, even angry, with the Obama administration’s policies, and a vast majority retains a bleak view of the economy. Those opinions did not change with bin Laden’s death, leaving open the question of whether, or how long, the spike in Obama’s fortunes will last.

The poll reveals the movability of voters in Virginia, which firmly established itself as a new battleground in 2008. Two years later, in the tea-party-infused, low-turnout elections of 2010, Virginia swung in the opposite direction, ousting three of the state’s six Democratic congressmen.

What will it take for President Obama to claim Virginia?  What will keep Virginia blue?  How will the outcome of this election affect the state election in 2013?  Is the Prez’s bump artificial, a flash in the pan, or can he sustain it?  Why does killing Bin Laden increase Obama’s popularity?

To Release or Not to Release

MoonHowler

Much has been said since the death of Bin Laden about how the aftermath was handled.  And yes, there are already conspiracy theorists popping up.  Are they the deathers–the ones who don’t believe he is really dead?

Currently the debate is whether to release the photos of  dead Osama Bin Laden.  Are the pictures too gross?  Will his followers get them and martyr him even further?  Or is it just in bad taste?  According to CNN, 56% of Americans want to see the pictures of him dead.  

What do you think?

Osama Bin Laden has been killed

MoonHowler

Deader than a Doornail

Just released:  Osama Bin Laden has been killed in a CIA operation.  US ground forces were involved.  The USA is in possession of his body.  DNA testing was be done. 

 The President is due to speak soon.  Updates to this post will be supplied as information becomes available.

The impact on the troops will be tremendous, according to military spokespersons.

The man-hunt is over but we must continue to be vigilent.  We can never let our guard down.  The war against Al Qada is not over.

 The President’s Speech: