The Dick-o-Meter Index: Is Obama Being Kind of a Dick About Osama, or Not?
While most Americans, including Mitt Romney, can agree that President Obama did a commendable job in ordering the attack which led to Osama bin Laden’s death, President Obama has recently stirred controvery by releasing a new attack ad that features Bill Clinton praising Obama’s handling of the operation and asks — over the obligatory ominous background music – ”Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?“
Naturally, Republicans have immediately gone ape-shit. Sen. John McCain called it a cheap political attack: “This is the same President who said, after bin Laden was dead, that we shouldn’t ‘spike the ball’ after the touchdown. And now Barack Obama is not only trying to score political points by invoking Osama bin Laden, he is doing a shameless end-zone dance to help himself get reelected.”
…And naturally, Jon Stewart immediately called the Republicans out on their hypocrisy in criticizing the president, recalling Bush’s “Mission Acomplished” photo-op. Stewart conceded that the Obama ad was “kinda shitty, a little of a cheap shot,” but said the only reason Republicans were pissed was because they didn’t get to run the ad themselves.
But even Obama supporter Arianna Huffington has called Obama’s ad “despicable.” Not only is it in poor taste, she said, but the “internalization of this cartoonish notion of machismo and the acceptance of it as a value in political leadership has had a deeply detrimental effect on the decisions of our leaders.”
So, which is it? Is Obama being a dick about the Osama killing, or is his new attack ad defensible? Let’s tally it up with The Daily Dolt’s patented, highly scientific Dick-o-meter Index:
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Romney did actually criticize Obama in 2007 for saying that he would unilaterally enter Pakistani airspace if it were necessary to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, saying “It’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.” So Obama’s new attack ad’s question, “Which path would Mitt Romney have taken,” is not completely unfounded. (Not-a-Dick: +1 point)
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But then Romney clarified shortly after that 2007 remark that he was simply saying we should not be advertising the fact that we would invade the airspace of an ally before the situation has even arisen: ”It’s wrong for a person running for the president of the United States to get on TV and say, ‘We’re going to go into your country unilaterally.’ Of course, America always maintains our option to do whatever we think is in the best interests of America. But we don’t go out and say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen of Germany, if ever there was a problem in your country, we didn’t think you were doing the right thing, we reserve the right to come in and get them out.’” Okay, so Romney wasn’t exactly saying he would not have launched the attack, just that Obama should not have been proclaiming that as an option back in 2007. (Dick : +1)
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As Jon Stewart pointed out, the Republicans would soooooo be spiking the football right now if the situation were reversed — probably while riding a bald eagle onto an aircraft carrier during a fireworks display. (Not-a-Dick: +2)
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But…just because the Republicans would have done the same thing doesn’t make it right. Gloating about bin Laden’s death and speculating that Romney would not have gotten the job done are still in poor tasste. (Dick: +1)
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The Timing. It would have been one thing to roll out this ad a few months from now, but it’s quite another to present it just days before the anniversary of bin Laden’s death. Obama absolutely deserves to take credit for the attack, and it’s fair game to use it to his advantage during the election. Certainly, we should expect our politicians to tout their accomplishments in office when seeking re-election, so it should outrage exactly no one that Obama is attempting to capitalize on this. But…did he really need to do it on the anniversary? It seems that this is the time when we should be somberly congratulating Team 6 and remembering all of the lives lost on 9/11, not rah-rahing for the President. (Dick: +3)
Grand total: +5 in the Dick column and +3 in the Not-a-Dick column, leaving a net total of +2 Dickishness Points. According to the Daily Dolt’s patented, highly scientific Dickishness Scale, a score of +2 indicates Obama was being “mildly dick-like.”
What do you think? Leave your opinion in the comments.
Official White House photo.
Appellate attorney, admirer of funny people, Dolt.
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Tracey
May 3, 2012 at 9:23 am
You seem to suggest (5) that one of the problems with the ad is that it is long before election season. But Romney is already running anti-Obama commercials. Surely that puts a point or two in the Not-A-Dick column?
Linda the Dolt
May 3, 2012 at 10:30 am
Good point. But it's not so much that the ad is pre-election season (since, as you point out, attack ads are already in full swing on both sides). It's more that the ad was rolled out just a few days before the anniversary of bin Laden's death. It's not a major affront as some in the media have claimed, but I think it's a little bit in poor taste to run a political ad during such a somber/non-partisan anniversary. If he had presented the ad a month ago or a month from now, then it might have been in better taste, since in that case it would be a more straight-forward political ad.
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