There’s certainly no shortage of people who are rushing to lay all the credit at the feet of President Obama. Does he deserve accolades for what he’s done? Absolutely. But some of that credit needs to be shared and no one in the media seems to be highlighting the other people who helped make UBL’s demise possible.
One political pundit told Lawrence O’Donnell, “The White House is going to Ground Zero, 9/11, great political move. The president, you know, deserves all the political accolades and bump that he can get out of this.”
Glenn responded, “Does he? Or have we given him enough? If there's anybody that has worked tirelessly, it is the military. Not the president of the United States. The president of the United States got the phone call: We found him.”
“Who found him? Oh, the people who have been working at Guantanamo. The people who have been scooping up KSM. You've found them. No, Mr. President, you didn't find them. George Bush didn't find them. The U.S. military and our operatives have found him,” Glenn said.
“Then the president said, ‘Hey, so can you get him?’ ‘Yes, we can.’ ‘All right. Come up with a plan and make sure it doesn't go wrong.’ The president didn't say, ‘Here's what you're going to do. You're going to take three helicopters.’ He didn't do that.”
“The president is the greatest example of an executive. His job is to say, ‘Wait a minute, I don't agree with that. Who has a differing opinion here? Who can go find this?’ And then provide the leadership to make things happen,” Glenn explained.
Glenn and Stu both said that Obama deserves some credit. He had to approve the mission and give the orders, and if things had gone wrong he certainly would have been responsible for that as well. But their main issue comes from the fact that he’s milking the event for all it’s worth politically without giving proper recognition to the soldiers who really made it all happen.
Glenn also took issue with Obama’s plans to visit Ground Zero as part of his victory tour.
“To take a victory lap around Ground Zero is obscene, and your own people, Schuster, your own people are saying, look, he's just dragging this thing out to get maximize this for political points,” Glenn said.
“ Do it at Battery Park by the big globe that was smashed by the World Trade Centers come down. That piece of art that was in between the two World Trade Centers, this giant, it looks like a globe and it was completely smashed by the World Trade Centers and they found it and they moved it to Battery Park and it's stunning. It's stunning. Do it there. Please, Mr. President. Not over the bodies of 3,000 people. Please.”