Obama And The Pirates

"An Early Military Victory for Obama," says the Washington Post. "[I] may help to quell criticism leveled at Obama that he came to office as a Democratic antiwar candidate who could prove unwilling or unable to harness military might when necessary. Meanwhile, RedState tastefully reports that "Captive Captain Helps Save Obama."

Perhaps I'm reading this wrong, but I'm fairly certain that the pirate drama and its resolution says absolutely nothing about President Obama. You could make the case that the White House wants to show that Obama is deliberate and cautious when it comes to authorizing military force -- fine -- but this was a hostage rescue mission, the U.S. has specially-trained counterterrorist forces for precisely this sort of thing, and military aciton was almost inevitable. Really, what this weekend's drama was, was a test of the National Command Authority, the NSC's ability to communicate with commanders in the crisis, and some good field training for Navy SEALs.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/04/obama-and-the-pirates/13010/