John Cole on Pirate-gate: "Folks, this was not the Cuban Missile Crisis." Kos agrees

[apr09]

Cole:

Maybe I am alone, but I hardly view this as a test of the President. Unless I am mistaken, all he had to do was sign off on rules of engagement and stay out of the way, and I don’t mean that to denigrate Obama, but because that really is all any President could do. We have a massive Navy with several hundred ships, highly trained professionals in the SEALS, highly trained professionals in the FBI and in the crews of the naval vessels tailing (and in one case towing) the raft, and you just need to let them do their job. This didn’t happen because heroic efforts by Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod in consultation with Obama produced a dashing plan a la the The West Wing. This happened because our very entrenched military and national security apparatus can handle little things like this without flinching.

That isn’t to take anything away from what the guys on the scene did, as that appears to have been one helluva shot they took. They also deserve real credit for their prior restraint, and waiting until the right moment to make things happen. They really acted like, well, professionals. But heaping all sorts of praise on Team Obama seems to me to be just as silly as flaming them for this. They acted prudently and cautiously, as anyone who has watched the President for any period of time would have expected him to behave.

http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=19869

Markos Moulitsas (Kos):

I agree with John Cole -- the pirate saga, while it turned out great for Obama, wasn't exactly a brilliant military triumph for the president. He gave the order to do whatever needed to be done to save the captain's life (which president wouldn't?), and then he crossed his fingers that it would all work out. Had one of those three snipers missed, things could've turned out much differently, but would that have meant Obama should've done things differently? Of course not. He took the right approach, left things up to the professionals, and things worked out well. Sometimes they don't, so this is great.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/13/719581/-Midday-open-thread

[mikiturner]

1. The GOP puffed this up

And it blew up in their faces. We should reap the rewards of their incompetence, and of the great work of the military and the president.

[anonymous171]

4. Yep. As usual, Obama defied their expectations. nt

[Uzybone]

2. conservatives always play politics better than we do

maybe its because they are naturally dishonest. Funny to see liberals clamoring to find a way to deny credit to the President. Yes, in reality, this was not a big deal, but I'll take any puffed up political credit we can get nowadays.

[SoxFan]

5. Markos is a sour little baby

He's not happy if he's not whining.

[Luminous Animal]

7. I don't agree...

he is a committed Democratic activist. There are some amazing intellects on that site (and thanks to kpete who cross posts many of the diaries here). His sister site http://www.congressmatters.com/ is fantastic tool for those of us who want to keep tabs on our government and Reps.

[Teaser]

12. your reply in convenient jpeg form

[BlooInBloo]

3. What's relevant is that republicans were hoping for and expecting Obama to EPIC FAIL on this....

and instead he EPIC SUCCEEDED.

The fact that it wasn't The War To End All Wars is completely beside the point.

[Kdillard]

6. So after a week of Obama being called awol and not having

leadership etc, etc but now it is not a big deal. Did he not hear Rush, Newt and others on the Sunday talk shows? Did he not read the letters to the editor's and see the newspaper headlines? It was a sticky situation that could have easily gotten out of hand and led to a mess causing embarassment to the President, the US and most importantly the captain could have ended up dead. It showed great leadership and how to handle a tricky sitation by not using it to further a political agenda unlike the Republicans. No mission accomplished and no making a bad situation worse.

[Luminous Animal]

8. Actually,

Criticism of the idiocy of the right wing was chronicle on DailyKos TV and was highlighted on the DKos front page here:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/13/719528/-GOP-descends-further-into-sick-cynicism

[Cha]

9. It is what it is..any idiot

knows it wasn't the Cuban Missle Crisis.

It would have been the Cuban Missle Crisis if the military operation would have failed.

[WeDidIt]

10. It wouldn't have been an issue outside the blogs

had the Republicans not puffed it up in hopes of a failure.

[Adelante]

11. I think everybody knows it was not the Cuban Missile Crisis

It was a challenge and Obama met it.

[FrenchieCat]

13. They are correct in their assessment, but they miss the point.

It's not about the mission itself,
it's about big mouth Republicans
who made this into a great big deal.

Were was Cole and Kos when the Television
was running this 24/7 for 4 days?

Don't they get it?

I'm quite surprised that they don't.

Betcha next time, the Republicans will STFU,
and at least wait till there is a fail,
instead of anticipating one.

[Doctor_J]

14. so are the "liberal bloggers" going to pooh-pooh every triumph?

was this a really slow day for "news that liberals should be happy about"?

[Jennicut]

15. Please. If the opposite had happened and the captain was killed this would be a major "failure" for

Prez Obama. It was not so its a major victory for him. Blame the Rethugs and the MSM for blowing it all out of proportion. So Obama is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. Markos Moulitsas is the biggest crybaby liberal blogger out there. Does he not get that another President such as McCain perhaps would have jumped the gun and gone it with full guns blazing and totally blown it? Being calm, cool, and collected is not a personality trait that every politician has but Obama has it in spades.

[Occam Bandage]

16. So what? Sgt. Pepper wasn't Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, but it was still good music. nt