Norah O'Donnell: Obama Has More Aggressively Prosecuted the War on Terror Than Bush
As she steps into her new role as CBS News Chief White House correspondent, Norah O'Donnell may have made a good impression on the man she'll now be covering with comments she made this weekend.
While chatting with the panel of "The Chris Matthews Show," O'Donnell told the host that President Obama has more aggressively prosecuted the War on Terror than George W. Bush (video follows with transcript and commentary):
NORAH O’DONNELL: I covered the Bush White House. He started the war in Afghanistan. But it took President Obama to finally capture and kill bin Laden. There have been more drone attacks under the Obama administration than the Bush administration.
There’s an argument that can be made, and there are numbers that support that Obama has more aggressively prosecuted the quote unquote War on Terror – if you like that phrase, some don’t – than Bush did.
In reality, you can make an argument about anything you choose, but that doesn't mean it will be cogent.
If you were to add up all the terrorists - including high-value targets such as Saddam Hussein, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - that were captured or killed during Bush's two terms, there's no question that total would far exceed the number since Obama was elected.
The lives saved as a result of Hussein and KSM's capture alone far exceed any as yet realized benefit from bin Laden's death which could in the end be more symbolic than anything else.
The primary goal of the War on Terror when Bush began it was to prevent a further attack on the American homeland, and that has clearly succeeded.
Have there been some significant victories since January 20, 2009? Certainly, with the murder of bin Laden being the boldest.
However, George W. Bush kept America safe for over seven years following 9/11.
Until Obama exceeds that, this "argument" is specious.
- Noel Sheppard's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
Norah is a beautiful,
Submitted by Soldat44 on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 10:07am.
Norah is a beautiful, educated woman but I'm afraid that she's been drinking way too much of the Obama Kool-Aid. Shame too, I used to really admire her.
She is hottie I must admit
Submitted by shawn. on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 10:33am.
She is hottie I must admit
She's a babe-and-a half, but
Submitted by Newsbusterbrown on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 10:52am.
She's a babe-and-a half, but also a liar. The latter, unfortunately, overrides the former.
“There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” - Ronald Reagan (1964 Republican Convention)
Can she compete with Megyn
Submitted by killa37 on Mon, 06/27/2011 - 1:30am.
Can she compete with Megyn Kelly for the 'babe' factor AND the intelligence??? Not even close!!
Or try the same equation with Michelle Malkin.............or a few others that I have seen but I can't remember their names. No-rah is a lib airhead.................how much time would you like to spend with her, and what would you like to be using that time on???
Who said Norah could compete
Submitted by Newsbusterbrown on Mon, 06/27/2011 - 7:36am.
Who said Norah could compete with Megyn, Michelle or anybody else you could name? We just said she's pretty, which she is. Just because her politics stink doesn't change that fact.
Personally, Gerri Willis does it for me on Fox Business. Now that's a woman!
“There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” - Ronald Reagan (1964 Republican Convention)
Oh, don't get me wrong,
Submitted by killa37 on Mon, 06/27/2011 - 12:02pm.
Oh, don't get me wrong, BB..................I think she's a babe too. I'd just have to make sure that the conversation didn't go anywhere that would override her 'babeness'!!!! I had a girlfriend who was (is) easlily as hot as O'Donnell...........and she's pretty smart too, but she had some major league lib beliefs - hell, she's from California - that I didn't agree with, and , as you may know, I'm a right-wing hater, complete with the racist, homophobic, bigoted, patriotic, intolerant viewpoint!!! NOT!!!!!
When we DID get into these kinds of discussions, she would get really riled up and emotional that I wouldn't agree with her...............although I always let her state her viewpoints, and she usually didn't want to hear mine, since they went against the grain of hers.
Ahhhhhhhhhh......................but otherwise, she was a lot of fun!!!!
She's a hottie
Submitted by Marsh on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 1:08pm.
until she lets lose with that foghorn of a laugh. She's makes Hilary's cackle sound melodious.
I can agree with this to a degree
Submitted by merly1 on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 10:10am.
but it doesnt mean its a smart use of our forces, ie we should get out of Afghanistan as it is a hellhole not worthy of our blood and treasure. The difference is the double standards of our libs and media---->if Bush had used this level of drone attacks as judge,jury, and executioner there would have been calls for impeachment. He was criticized enormously for simply waterboarding people. When its Owebomba firing hellfire missiles to kill a bad guy plus likely some innocents, somehow the Peace Prize winner is given a "pass."
O'Donnell whoring for Obama .
Submitted by Xpat48 on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 10:16am.
She's Obama's media whore.
2 thumbs up! Nailed it!
Submitted by Red Jeep on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 10:52am.
Obama certainly has gotten more U. S. soldiers killed in his short time in office compared to President Bush.
Time for our troops to come home from everywhere.
Obviously Norah likes
Submitted by Bhaal on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 10:19am.
Obviously Norah likes chocolate salty balls.
Not appropriate
Submitted by zenman1661 on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 10:34am.
That is the type of comment that would be made on the Daily KOS, Hopefully we are better than that.
So whore calling and implying
Submitted by Bhaal on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 11:02am.
So whore calling and implying that one finds the subject of a story attractive are appropriate comments, but no South Park lines. Just making sure I understand the guide lines.
I guess it's kind of a gray area
Submitted by shawn. on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 11:11am.
Calling somebody a whore is wrong but media whore is okay, saying somebody is a hottie is okay but saying she has nice t!ts is wrong.
Come on
Submitted by zenman1661 on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 11:51am.
Media whore may be a little crass but has a legitmate definition. What you said was a sexual derogatory comment no different from the left using tea bagger when talking about the tea party. Do you really want to be no better than them.
We are better than that...go
Submitted by AngryInOhio on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 3:26pm.
We are better than that...go back to the huffington post
OK, the reality
Submitted by MoYo on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 3:22pm.
While Obama may have "prosecuted" the war on terror more "aggressively" than Bush, Obama's casualties in the war on terror have risen fourfold over Bush's. However, unlike Bush, who had a stated goal of containment as victory, Obama doesn't even like the word victory and has no apparent plan to achieve it. Obama's surge into Afghanistan has failed to create the same conditions as did Bush's surge into Iraq, which decimated the al-Qaeda presence there. (A presence that then-Speaker Nanci Pelosi denied.)
It is ancient military doctrine that a war-time leader who doesn't first set the conditions for victory and fight to achieve those conditions has lost the war before the first act of aggression.
Obama is not fighting to achieve victory, he is fighting because he painted himself into a political box by making Afghanistan the good war and Iraq the bad war.
Well Obama needs all the help he can get
Submitted by shawn. on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 10:30am.
........from folks like Odonnell because 2012 will not be easy for him to win
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230465780457640165311301713...
Awww. sure it will.
Submitted by wizardjr on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 1:42pm.
Dawn of the Dead was actually a documentary about the upcoming election. Millions will climb out of their graves to vote for him. Piece o' cake.
O'Donnell
Submitted by jessieH on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 10:41am.
"obama has more drone attacks than Bush." That's true, but the drone attacks have been in Lybia, not Afganistan. The war in Lybia that isn't a war, that Congress hasn't authorized, that the citizens don't approve of and that shows how much contempt obama has for this Nation's laws and regulations.
O'Donnell on .......
Submitted by Xpat48 on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 10:54am.
Hey O'Donnell get on the "flotilla" (israel) well see just how good you are.
R.I.P.
Ha! Ha!
Lets consider the fact
Submitted by bkeyser on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 10:55am.
that in 2000, the US had roughly 50 operational drones, and the first Hellfire missile success didn't happen until February of 2001. Since then, we've enhanced the capability of UAV and developed both the Predator and the Reaper models -the Reaper being the real offensive juggernaut. We've improved the weapons delivery systems, the guidance software, flight operator training and intelligence, and the munitions in the last decade, as well as depleted the masses of Taliban and AQ in Iraq, dwindling the number of opposition fighters drastically. We now have more than 7000 operational drones with large orders already placed to drastically increase that number.
By the time Obama came into office, he was able to concentrate on the few remaining high-level AQ operatives, and with the advancements in UAV technology, our military has been able to score some great success in those areas.
Couple that with a sudden silence among the anti-war crowd and media, and what seems like more aggression and greater success is a combination of a smaller-in-number enemy, technological advancements, less opposition on the home front, and fawning media reports by idiots like Norah O'Donnell.
What she fails to address is the (H/T Allahpundit from HotAir) "whack-a-mole" approach to ground operations in Afghanistan by not approaching the war full-throttle. Regardless of whether we should be there or not, as long as we are we should stop clearing territory and then abandoning it while we fight in another. Under Obama, we've fought in multiple territories on multiple occasions -first winning it, then abandoning it, then fighting there again as the Taliban and AQ fighters return upon our leaving. (I wonder what will happen when we leave Afghanistan all together?...)
Great insight BK
Submitted by Boudin on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 11:16am.
To bad these nitwits couldnt bother to give a better perspective of this issues
Guess it doesn't mean anything now
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 11:29am.
How many American soldiers dead on Obama's watch? Isn't anyone counting anymore?
If my memory serves me well,
Submitted by killa37 on Mon, 06/27/2011 - 1:37am.
If my memory serves me well, the MSM was counting EVERY military death during the Bush years, and reporting them non-stop...........especiall when it got to a **50 or a **00, when it was really easy to make an impact on the viewing public. We ALWAYS knew how many military people had died!!!!
You're right...........these days it's buried in the classified section, or in some little on-line blurb.
Hell, Boy Blunder can't even get it right..............not that he gives a sh*t!!! I'm sure he's more concerned about his 'status' then he was about having to apologize to that dead MOH winners' parents for screwing up the story.
Talk about the REAL meaning of 'corpse man'!!!
FUBO IS FUBAR!!!!!!
How Disingenuous!
Submitted by iveseenitall on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 11:41am.
My God,what hypocrites! These are same people who were all over President Bush for his "warmongering". Now it's "Who is the the greater "warmonger?". Scheeze--no better proof than this that you need not listen to these unprincipled, disingenuous, two-faced "liberals". PUKE!
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal" (progressive0
CBS knew
Submitted by Jerry Mack on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 11:42am.
CBS new exactlyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy what they were hiring. Another Obama shill. Just adds to their title "CAN'T BELIEVE STORY"
Where are the benchmarks on the nightly newscasts?
Submitted by NJRightWinger12 on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 11:47am.
Remember? The 500 soldiers killed mark? Each thousand? The injured/wounded/innocent civilians killed, that we had to endure NIGHTLY? The full length stories we saw WEEKLY? Mostly promoted by the likes of HER? Yeah, beautiful on the outside, gruesomely ugly on the in! Beauty fades, "media whore"-dumb is FOREVER!
Rogue presidents back in style?
Submitted by MidAmerica on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 12:06pm.
We really can't compare obama to Bush
. Bush never told us all that was happening and the media overplayed the negative spin against him.
Obama has free reign to do pretty much as he pleases since the media and the 'anti-war' people are supporting him.
Even though obama is hailed for being more aggressive than Bush and has escalated the death and destruction from the sky with drones, he has no peace achievements based on his campaign promises of diplomacy. There are no calls for the Nobel Committee to rescind obama's Peace Prize.
Obama proudly proclaimed during his campaign he would do it differently, smarter and would not repeat the failed polices of the past and now he is hailed as some sort of super-Bush.
How SeeBS decided to hire Noron is beyond me.
Submitted by OxyCon on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 1:15pm.
Hiring a biased, leftist reject away from MessNBC is a sure fire way to severely damage your reputation and credibility.
more Make Believe Media
Submitted by wizardjr on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 1:48pm.
It still just stuns me the crap they make up and spew in the "news". I have to believe they actually believe this stuff having so convinced themselves of The Obamasiah's emaculation along with all the other foundation stones of their religion - Christians are worse that mooslimes, conservatives hate old people and minorities, guns are what causes people to do bad things, etc., etc. I just wish there was a way to knock these people back to reality - an aerosol, a 2x4, something.
Safe from whom?
Submitted by lrgon on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 2:09pm.
"... W. Bush kept America safe for over seven years following 9/11."
The gargantuan Department of Homeland Security with its 200K bureau-thugs is not keeping America safe but is putting our rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights in jeopardy. The DHS considers veterans, Christians and Right to Lifers equivalent to al-Qaeda.
The American people wound up with the short end of the stick due to Bush's aggressive and robust attack on our civil liberties in his totally agenda driven, unitary presidential cruise through the Constitution. He was overheard telling some conservative congressmen who questioned his use of the office of the presidency with powers unconstitutionally granted to that office by passage of the misnamed Patriot Act.
How can a man who thinks that the Constitution is just a g**da***d piece of paper" keep America safe?
The truth is that he didn't! And neither is the more aggressive unitary president who has Boehner, Cantor and the rest of the "GOP opposition" in the palm of his hand!
How's Ron Paul doing in Iowa?
Submitted by bkeyser on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 2:39pm.
How's Ron Paul doing in Iowa?
Murder vs. Killing
Submitted by Harbinger041 on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 5:34pm.
Good article, with one caveat. That would be the "killing" of Osama Bin Laden, not the murder thereof. There is a difference.
Murder is what happened on 9/11.
Common Sense for Our Times...
http://currenteventsandcommonsense.wordpress.com/
A Hottie?
Submitted by telecaster on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 9:22pm.
Who frickin' cares? She's dumb as a bag of hammers if she honestly believes Big Ears has had anything to do with the war on terrorism. This country is doomed and there"s no doubt about that. We got 3 year olds doing the "news" and people who listen to them who can only respond "she's a hottie"? When did our country become a pre-school?
Norah, Norah, Norah
Submitted by NotFondOfLibs on Mon, 06/27/2011 - 12:13am.
Norah may not be a media whore, a term I consider distasteful for anyone, but she certainly fits the description of "village nitwit" in respect of her constant role as a water carrier for the the Incompetent One, Barack Obama. But what else could you expect from someone who has been at NBC so long. After all we had Jane Pauley, Meredith Veira, and now Norah O'Donnell, just to name a few of the liberal airheads posing as journalists. What a laugh that is.
I hate to act like a liberal...
Submitted by Bill Brasky on Mon, 06/27/2011 - 1:11am.
... and use ad hominem attacks, but that is one dumb bitch.
"But it took President Obama
Submitted by Martin2717 on Mon, 06/27/2011 - 2:22am.
"But it took President Obama to finally capture and kill bin Laden."
Yes. What wonderful timing on his part. He just happened to the president at the time our great Navy Seals (who should get most of the credit) tracked down and killed bin Laden. They could have killed him sooner had the President not waited 16 hours to make a no-brainer decision. I knew this is what all the Obama-loving libturds would brag about. Norah O'Bimbo included.