THE OBAMA SCORECARD

9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad: CAPTURED

Who knew that the Barack Obama presidency would come to be known as a foreign policy success?? Not many. But one look at his track record and you’ll clearly see that President Obama’s highly criticized “lead from behind” doctrine has cleansed the world of ruthless dictators, defeated al-Qaida one terrorist at a time, captured and killed Osama bin Laden, cleaned up a variety of messes George W. Bush left behind, and done so all with little to no American military casualties.

It’s hard to argue that President Obama has not been surprisingly, if not exceptionally good at a foreign policy skill his presidential challengers all believed back in 2008 would fall flat due to his lack of “experience.” Yet, today’s crop of GOP presidential hopefuls are scrambling for the words to continue knocking the president at a time when his victories make those Republican detractors look silly.

Mitt Romney and his GOP counterparts have taken turns saying Barack Obama is undermining American greatness, is ashamed of his country, is a left-wing weakling, and have even called him an Ivy League sophisticate steeped in anti-American self-loathing. But can those wild claims really stick now that a string of successes at capturing and killing the world’s “worst of the worst,” has the president polling 10 to 15 points higher on national security than on almost any other issue?

Barack Obama going after bad guys across the globe is not what the American people expected when they elected him, and is certainly not the Obama Republicans expected they’d have to run against in 2012.  But despite a lagging economy, the Obama foreign policy checklist is ticking off one success after another.  And it’s a winning scorecard that could reward him with 4 more years in the White House.

Mr. Obama has hedged some rather huge bets on national security that have each paid off in dividends. Republicans criticized the president’s decision to intervene militarily in Libya, some even saying he waited too long, shouldn’t have allowed NATO to be in charge, or should have stayed out completely. But with news of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s capture and death (all with minimal cost and with no loss of American life), the president and his decision has been vindicated, prompting praise from a variety of sources:

“Reagan tried to get Gaddafi and missed; Obama got him. Bush tried to get bin Laden; Obama got him. He got Awlaki (the American-born cleric who became a terrorist leader). Twelve of the 16 top al Qaeda leaders are dead, and he’s done that.”
– Assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration Lawrence Korb 

“To rid the world of Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Moammar Qaddafi within six months: if Obama were a Republican, he’d be on Mount Rushmore by now.”
– Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Beast 

“I understand the left’s problem with Obama’s national security policy. But the right? What the hell is their problem? Obama has escalated our presence dramatically in Afghanistan; he created a massive drone air force that’s all but wiped out al-Qaeda in Pakistan; he killed Osama bin Laden; he approved a multilateral military operation in Libya that ended up killing Muammar Qaddafi; he sent a SEAL team out to kill Somali pirates; he assassinates U.S. citizens in foreign countries who are associated with al-Qaeda; and he’s done more to isolate and sanction Iran than George Bush ever did. Crikey. Just how bloodthirsty do they want the guy to be?”
– Kevin Drum at Mother Jones