The day President Obama said: 'Go get bin Laden'

Wiping out much of Al Qaeda’s leadership (including the assassination of a United States citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki); overwhelming US attacks from sea and air that led to the end of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi; greatly increased drone attacks in Pakistan (many times such attacks ordered during the Bush administration); covert wars in Yemen and Somalia; and a tripling of American troops in Afghanistan. 

Still, observes Bergen, “From both the right and left, there has been a continuing, dramatic cognitive disconnect between Mr. Obama’s record and the public perception of his leadership: despite his demonstrated willingness to use force, neither side regards him as the warrior president he is.”

None of this should have been surprising, asserts Bergen. A year before his presidential nomination, Obama said this in a national security speech:

“If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and [Pakistan’s President at the time, Pervez Musharraf] won’t act, we will. I will not hesitate to use military force to take out terrorists who pose a direct threat to America.”

For that, he took flak from Republican presidential contenders McCain and Romney, as well as from his Democratic rival for the 2008 nomination, Hillary Rodham Clinton (who would go on to become his powerful “team of rivals” Secretary of State).

Less than a year in office, Obama made essentially the same point in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech:

“I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people,” he said. “For make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince Al Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism – it is recognition of history, the imperfections of man, and the limits of reason.”

The decision to go after bin Laden could have turned out as badly as the high-risk mission former President Jimmy Carter ordered to rescue the 52 Americans held captive in Iran in 1980. The mission failed when two US aircraft collided at a desert rendezvous point, killing eight American servicemen and probably ending Mr. Carter’s hopes for reelection.

But in Obama’s case, it didn’t fail – one reason Peter Bergen looks at Obama’s military record and describes him as “more Teddy Roosevelt than Jimmy Carter.”

IN PICTURES: Bin Laden's Pakistan compound

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