Obama Bin Laden

Welcome back true believers! Some of you are already wondering, based on the title, what the hell am I going to be writing about this time? Let me first start off by saying I have no political affiliation whatsoever. If I were to lean one way or the other, I guess it would be to the left (but I think that is because I dress left). So...back to the lecture at hand...I am tired of hearing that "Obama didn't kill Bin Laden, the US Military did", or "Why is Obama taking credit for this? He didn't shoot him", or other comments of the sort.

I don't want to come off sounding like some crazy, disgruntled, leftist war vet...but let me tell you how the Salty one sees it. For the past 20 years, I didn't have a President. I had a Commander in Chief. It was my job (as my contract stated) to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, against all enemies foreign and domestic, and to bare true faith and allegiance to the same. To obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of the Officers appointed over me." Every member of the Armed Forces reads, signs, and recites these lines every time the enlist/re-enlist. The President is "the boss". So, the President IS a member of the United States Military. Consider him the Manager of the team. Did Derek Jeter win the World Series 4 times in 5 years? Nay nay...Joe Torre did that. Joe didn't run around telling everyone that he won the World Series, he gave credit to his team. But in the end, it was Joe's knowledge of his players, the information he had on the other team, and how he used all of those tools, that won the World Series. Just as the Commander in Chief used the knowledge of his players, the information he had on the other team, and other tools to kill Bin Laden.

Just because he didn't walk into that "Pock E Stahny" village with an M-16 in his hand, doesn't mean that he doesn't get some sort of credit for this happening on his watch. Do we take credit away from FDR and Truman for winning WWII? Do we take away blame from Eisenhower for the Vietnam "Conflict"? Or credit for the first Gulf War from Daddy Bush? Hell, let's take away all of the aircraft carriers that carry their names too! Nay, that is not how this works. A President who is in office during a victory gets credit for the victory. A President who is in office for a defeat, carries that defeat. Can we blame "Dubya" for all of the lives lost during OIF/OEF? He didn't pull the trigger or set the IEDs. We went in there to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies; foreign and domestic".

The military members know that this is a job with no glory. It isn't an easily made career choice. What we do know is that whatever the President says...goes. "To obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of the Officers appointed over me." We do the work, he gets the credit. He also gets the blame. If SEAL Team "6" went in there and Bin Laden wasn't there...would SEAL Team "6" take the blame? Nay nay...that would be the Commander in Chief's mistake. Again, he wouldn't have been the one that "let him get away". But that is exactly how he would be remembered.

Being a native New Yorker and a member of the military for 20 years, the death of Bin Laden was very special to me. I saw my fellow New Yorkers avenged, and I saw my fellow sailors do the avenging. No matter what happens from here on out, President Obama will be remembered as the President who avenged our great country, just as FDR was the guy that repaid the Japanese for what they did to Pearl Harbor. Just as Reagan made Gorbachev "tear down this wall". Just because we have a young, black Democrat in the office of President...stop trying to blame him for being credited with accomplishing something that no one has been able to accomplish for almost 10 years....find, track, and kill that son of a bitch Osama Bin Laden. Until next time kiddies....Stay Salty.

-Salty Dog