Time's Joe Klein Praises Obama's 'Crisp' Handling of Otherwise Non-existent Pirate 'Threat'

President Barack Obama was "crisp and decisive" but also lucky in his handling of the Maersk Alabama hostage crisis, exults Time magazine's Joe Klein [depicted in NewsBusters screen cap/file photo at right] in an April 13 Swampland blog post.

Klein added that had the Navy SEAL snipers failed in hitting their targets, Republicans and second-guessing journalists would probably push the Obama administration to escalate matters to tackle a non-existent pirate "threat":

But it could easily have gone wrong, through no fault of the President and the SEALs--a gust of wind, whatever...and then the Administration would have had to waste all sorts of energy on damage control, fending off the second-guessers--Republicans and, all too often, people like me--and perhaps overreacting to the pirate "threat" as a result. Presidencies are, sadly, built or crippled on such quirks of fate.

As it stands, our socialist, pacifist, crypto-Muslim President has bagged three terrorist in the most dramatic fashion and saved a Captain. Congratulations to all concerned--and let's hope that the good luck continues to roll.

So with a pat on the president's back and crossed fingers Klein goes on to hope that what he dismissively calls the Somali pirate "threat" goes away? It's hard to imagine Klein having the same reaction if the Maersk incident happened in April 2008 under President Bush. 

Would Klein really see the hostage situation as an isolated incident or a symptom of a "failed administration" that was inadequately addressing a growing Somali pirate "threat" off the Horn of Africa?