Killing the leader of the group that protected bin Laden seems like a big deal to me. Think for a minute about the attempt to paint Obama as Carter. Now think of three real-time operations — the killing of the Somali pirates, the release of the NoKo hostages, and now the targeted killing of the Taliban’s leader. Does that sound like Jimmy Carter to you? Now how about getting Osama? Wouldn’t that be a coup? I suspect he’s working hard on it.
Hmmm. I hadn’t quite thought of it that way. But it’s an interesting point. Obama hasn’t yet had a substantive foreign policy success on the scale of Jimmy Carter’s Camp David Accords (or even on the scale of returning the Panama Canal, for that matter), but on the little things he’s been remarkably successful. Or remarkably lucky. Or both. Either way, though, these little successes breed a sense of competence and self-possession that can help make things go better on the larger stage too. Maybe Obama really does lead a charmed life.
