3 Dead Pirates and 1 Superhero…by John Allen

I was extremely happy to see that the American Captain (Captain Phillips) being held hostage by Somali pirates was freed by a heroic rescue by U.S. Navy Seals. I’ve always been in awe of the professionalism and competence of the Navy Seals. And I have to give credit to President Obama for authorizing the use of force to save an American citizen. He made the right call.

My issue here is not with Obama. My issue is with the liberals who are now doing an end-zone dance because this situation turned out to have a happy ending and Obama benefits politically. First of all, yes, Obama made the right call. But, it was a no-brainer, a lay-up. It’s a call that 99.99% of Americans would have gotten right (Jimmy Carter, Michael Moore and Dennis Kucinich not withstanding). “Mr. President, can we use force to rescue an American citizen being held hostage?”. “Well, let me think about it for a milli-second…YES!”.

For Obama, this was the perfect situation for him to get some “tough guy” cred. It was a no-risk situation. Now, to be sure, there was risk for the American Captain and for any military personnel involved in a firefight. What I mean is that there was no risk that Somalia would launch effective counterattacks and there was no risk that the situation would escalate into a regional conflict. And there was no risk that the U.N. or the “international community” would disapprove since nobody has sympathy for pirates. And if it failed, well, at least he tried.

The Associated Press had an article that said Obama passed his first international test. Well, yes, but the test was the equivalent of a 1st grade spelling test. There are much bigger tests coming. Iran, North Korea, Russia, Afghanistan. The risks will be much greater. Liberals might want to hold off on the end-zone dances until “tough guy” Obama stares down Putin or Ahmadinejad.

What will he do, for instance, if Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear facilities? Will he stand by one of our strongest allies, or will he criticize them and abandon them when Iran (and the surrounding Arab states) tries to counterattack? What will he do if Russia tries to gobble up Georgia or Ukraine? He surged in Afghanistan, but what if the going gets tough and we start taking heavy casualties and all of his Code Pink and Moveon.org supporters are calling for withdrawal? Will he want to bug out like he wanted to do in Iraq? What will he do about North Korea’s nuclear weapons?

These are the real “international tests”. Four Somalian pirates in a lifeboat was like a pop-quiz for Obama. How did Obama handle his first real “international test”, the North Korean ballistic missile (err, I mean, satellite) test launch?:
Step 1: Obama warns there will be “consequences”. “Words must mean something”, he said.
Step 2: North Korea launches their ballistic missile.
Step 3: Obama refers the matter to the U.N. security council.
Step 4: Security council does nothing. Not even a resolution to condemn the launch.
Step 5: Obama drops it and moves on. Apparently, words don’t have to mean something.

But, now, the liberals and the media (but I repeat myself) claim that the pirate incident was his first international test and he passed with flying colors. It’s obvious what they are trying to do. They are trying to inoculate him from the charge of being soft on national defense. All Obama has to do now is sit back and let the press paint him as General Patton, John Wayne and Ronald Reagan rolled into one.

On the plus side, it’s nice to see that after 8 years the left in America is finally able to cheer an American military success. Consider their reactions to the following events:

- Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, is captured: silence from the left.

- Sadaam Hussein, a brutal dictator, is captured: silence from the left.

- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. soldiers and thousands of innocent Iraqis, is vaporized: silence from the left.

- 3 pirates in a lifeboat are killed by Navy Seals (which is an awesome thing): Cheers all around. Obama is the “toughest” S.O.B. since General Patton.

When Bush was in office, it’s not as though the left would acknowledge that a great military operation had occurred and praise the operation, even if they didn’t necessarily want to give Bush credit. They never even acknowledged that the military had done anything great. But, they sure did revel in Abu Ghraib abuses and alleged abuses at Guantanamo.

Every conservative pundit or commentator I have seen is ecstatic about this operation that freed an American citizen. It’s just nice to have liberals cheering with us for a change when the military kicks some butt. But, one gets the feeling that they are not cheering so much because it was an amazing, heroic military operation as much as they are cheering for the fact that it helps Obama politically.

When Bush was in office and the military did something good, 50% of the country (the right) was happy about it. When Obama is in office and the military does something good, 100% of the country is happy about it (the left and right). Notice which side is always there, happy about America’s military successes no matter who is in office. The right may be grudgingly giving Obama credit (and it’s painful for some on the right) and there may be those that can’t bring themselves to give him credit, but we are all elated that the American military brought some pain down on the bad guys. That is something to cheer, no matter who is in the White House.