Mother Jones has a great post that will get you up to speed on what went down in Somalia the other night:
The latest example of Obama-era military badass-ery transpired last night while you were probably asleep or detoxing from the president’s third State of the Union address: Just moments before President Obama took the podium, a team of US Navy SEALs rescued two hostages from a group of Somali pirates. By the end of the raid, nine Somalis were dead, three were detained, and the two kidnapped aid workers—32-year-old American Jessica Buchanan and 60-year-old Dane Poul Hagen Thisted—were safely extracted from the camp where they were being held.
What’s most amazing is that President Obama reportedly ordered the raid on Monday because Jessica Buchanan suffers a medical condition that might have resulted in her dying in captivity. (A medical condition separate and apart from being held hostage by Somali pirates, that is.) President Obama then got word that the mission had been successful, sauntered on to the House floor, gave Defense Secretary Panetta props, and delivered a near perfect State of the Union address with the following poignant closing:
One of my proudest possessions is the flag that the SEAL Team took with them on the mission to get bin Laden. On it are each of their names. Some may be Democrats. Some may be Republicans. But that doesn’t matter. Just like it didn’t matter that day in the Situation Room, when I sat next to Bob Gates, a man who was George Bush’s defense secretary, and Hillary Clinton, a woman who ran against me for president.
All that mattered that day was the mission. No one thought about politics. No one thought about themselves. One of the young men involved in the raid later told me that he didn’t deserve credit for the mission. It only succeeded, he said, because every single member of that unit did their job—the pilot who landed the helicopter that spun out of control; the translator who kept others from entering the compound; the troops who separated the women and children from the fight; the SEALs who charged up the stairs. More than that, the mission only succeeded because every member of that unit trusted each other—because you can’t charge up those stairs, into darkness and danger, unless you know that there’s someone behind you, watching your back.
He then called Jessica Buchanan’s father immediately after the State of the Union address to tell him that his daughter was safe, and probably helped a few old ladies cross the street before calling it a day.
Bad. Ass.
I don’t ever want to hear anyone complain that President Obama is a coward or has no balls.
And I mean, ever.
And Willard thinks he’s a badass because he throws people out of work.
And Jabba the Newt thinks he’s a badass because he’s belligerent.
Neither of those two is fit to carry President Obama’s briefcase, not even for a little while. Gingrich would probably drop it, and Romney would likely try to steal and sell it.
Obama just gets the job done and goes about his evening.
That’s being a badass.
What he said.
Right on!
I’ve been reading some commentary on various sites whining that he’s “glorified the military” in his speech. Which just goes to show that the idiots missed the point of his use of military teamwork.
Our idiots don’t get it, but I’m sure the message is read by most other countries. If he gives you a chance to negotiate, take it. He’d prefer to talk it out. But do not fuck with him!
I am so sick of this BS about “glorifing” the military. Lots of people are all ready to slobber over the military when they send them off to war but they forget about the families left behind and the needs of our troops when they come home.
Dang! Our troops at least understand team effort, working together and loyalty. This could be a good lesson for our Congress and our country. Sometimes I think it’s too bad we don’t still have compulsive service for our young so they might learn a few valuable lessons. Obviously, most of our politicians could use a little ‘basic training.’
You know, there is another way to read the military reference, one which I like the possibility of. The military plans, and allocates resources according to plan. It also provides health care to everyone in the military, however imperfect at times it may be.
The President is arguing for a long-term healthy economy for this country, which means planning. Not a command economy, but an economy with planning. Can be done, has been done–witness WWII–and must be done if we’re not going to slip from oligarchy to something genuinely feudal.
So, our men and women in uniform dont deserve some god damn glory?
These emo-prog fucks are getting on my last nerves.
These were the same types to spit on troops coming back from Nam, and make progressives look so bad for so long. There does need to be a purge, these whiny fucks need to go sit in the corner somewhere with their effete selves and sip a god damn latte
Thank you, Aquagranny. I too am sick of the whining about “glorifying” the military. My uncle Claude died in World War II (he was a Marine) and my father served during the Korean War, although he was never sent to Korea. I usually am not a big fan of the fact that we need a military, but I respect the folks who serve. I’m glad we have a President who isn’t going to use the military as his baseball bat. I’m also glad he treats the military as good as he does. Those men and women have earned that good treatment, unlike the whiny little PL people.
It needed to be done.
Full stop.
Under President Obama the job gets done with surgical precision. Is there anything this man is not good at?
The President doesn’t deserve credit for this….although he will of course take credit for it. The boots on the ground do. You know the ONES ACTUALLY DOING the high-skilled and dangerous rescue?? I find it ironic an office of commander in chief doesn’t even have to have served in the very forces that he/she is commanding. No. Hell no. Time for a constitutional amendment requiring the commander in chief to be qualified as to whether or not he/she served in the active duty military.
It’s been like that because the military was intended to be under civilian control. The President is the commander in chief, and you don’t need to have served to be President.
But hey, don’t silly little things like facts and logic that stop you from your masturbation and hoping for a military junta…
Pity your education is so lacking. I don’t find it ironic at all, but then again, I’ve got a working knowledge of history. For example, after Washington, do you know how many presidents were in the military? None, until Jackson was elected. So not even the founders thought it was “necessary.”
Over half of our presidents have not served in the military at all. I can also point out that of the current crop of Republican candidates, only one of them ever served, and he’s at (or near) the back of the pack.
AMERICA…………………….FUCK YEAH
Jan Brewer better sleep with one eye open……..just saying
But yes, I prefer these types of operations then a big freaking war.
A man with no military experience, a community organizer is showing you how to conduct combat, and its killing them.
He took all their strengths, and not only applied them, but improved on them drastically in scale to any other Republican.
They got nothing
Let the church say AMEN! That and he’s with his first and only wife, raising two beautiful kids, fully embodying the family values idea they all talk about.