Saturday Night and Sunday Night

According to news reports, President Obama made the decision on Friday to go ahead with plan he had previously selected from several options, to find and capture or kill Osama bin Laden.  Because it wasn't absolutely certain that bin Laden was there, some of his National Security team reportedly had not been in favor of this.  It seems clear that President Obama pretty much staked his presidency on being right about this, and on a successful mission. 

The mission was scheduled for Saturday, but was called off because of bad weather.  So as previously scheduled, President Obama attended the correspondents' dinner, where he laughed at a comedian's joke about bin Laden's whereabouts (he hosts an afternoon show on C-Span), and provided his own brilliant and exquisitely timed stand-up routine. 

Part of it seemed actually politically significant to me when I watched it later, and now--after the events of Sunday--both Josh Marshall and Howard Fineman commented on exactly that part of it, which assumed even more power because of Sunday.  It came after President Obama kidded himself and his attackers concerning the birther blather.  He then pretended to start similar rumors about GOPer contenders (Michelle Bachman was really born in Canada; Tim Palenty's middle name is Hosni.)   Then he took on Trump, describing the kind of executive decisionmaking that qualifies him to be President:

" But all kidding aside, obviously, we all know about your credentials and breadth of experience. (Laughter.) For example -- no, seriously, just recently, in an episode of Celebrity Apprentice -- (laughter) -- at the steakhouse, the men's cooking team cooking did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around. But you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didn't blame Lil' Jon or Meatloaf. (Laughter.) You fired Gary Busey. (Laughter.) And these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. (Laughter and applause.) Well handled, sir. (Laughter.) Well handled. "

Even if the bin Laden mission hadn't happened Sunday, this one moment might have been enough to destroy Trump's candidacy in everyone's eyes except probably his own.  Now it almost certainly has.

A lot of correspondents from major print and electronic outlets were at the dinner, along with Hollywood celebrities and major political figures, including Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.  The correspondents saw Obama completely at ease, apparently having a good time.  They had no idea of the decision he had made, and the stakes of the operation that had been rescheduled for just a few hours later.  "One thing should be clear now," wrote New York Times reporter Michael Shear in that paper's political blog: "Don't play poker with President Obama." 

What transpired on Sunday confirmed President Obama as Commander-in-Chief.  But what makes him a great President was the context he created and the meaning he gave it in his address to the nation on Sunday night.  Michael Scherer  reports on the crafting of that speech on Sunday night.  President Obama, he reports, knew what he wanted to say when he began talking with aides:

Obama has discussed this thematic connection with his aides in the West Wing, explaining that the death of bin Laden signals something far greater than a national security accomplishment. “He views this as a demonstration of this country’s capacity to overcome skeptics and do things that people had decided were no longer doable,” explained Press Secretary Jay Carney, in an interview Monday afternoon. “There is sort of a grit and resolve. And not in a John Wayne way, but in a commitment and focus.”

It was a restatement, Scherer wrote, of his theme of "We do big things."  But it was even more a restatement of what Americans can achieve when they work together in good faith, and a call once again to serious approaches to serious problems.  It is a theme he will continue in the days ahead.  Obviously it is a re-election theme, but it is also the core of his message from his candidacy: we must work together to solve problems, and we have some really big problems.  It may not be easy, it may take time, but Americans have done it before.  We have done big things.  This is the mythos he urges us to adopt: we do big things.  But particular big things:

"That is the story of our history, whether it’s the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place. Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

The big things he came to office to do--and the big things that circumstances required that he do--are aimed at winning the future.  He identified addressing the healthcare problem as the most critical one--its costs to businesses of all sizes and government at all levels as well as to families and individuals, that were only going to grow exponentially in the future.  To truly solve this efficiently would require everyone's sincere efforts.  That was the point of attempting a bipartisan bill.  But because of infantile whatever-you're for-we're against GOPer partisanship, it was costly to pass an imperfect bill, and it will be a struggle to implement and perfect it. 

Because of that infantile partisanship, fueled by oil billions and fear, we are risking the future by not addressing the Climate Crisis as a civilization.  President Obama has gotten what he could by emphasizing the economic benefits of  green energy innovation, so there is still a chance, however slim, to win the future.  If it takes something as nebulously related as the end to a great symbol of evil to bring Americans together long enough for them to actually hear what President Obama has been saying, it is a possibility worth exploring.  "...our sacrifices to make the world a better place" doesn't just mean the sacrifices of soldiers and their families regarding military actions.  Ultimately it is an excellent description of why we must confront the Climate Crisis.