The killing of Osama Bin Laden will fend off criticism that US President Barack Obama's national security policy is too soft for a commander in chief as he runs for reelection next year, charges Republicans have wielded effectively against Democrats for decades. Obama has been dogged since he announced his first presidential campaign in 2007 by charges from Republicans and some fellow Democrats – including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a former rival – that he is not strong or decisive enough to lead a country at war and facing terrorist threats. But in many ways the lightning raid that killed the Al-Qaeda leader extended an approach to foreign affairs far more hawkish than expected from a candidate who stressed his opposition to the Iraq war and willingness to negotiate with the United States' opponents as he sought the presidency. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize largely for advocating a more cooperative approach to foreign policy, Obama has sent thousands more troops to Afghanistan, backed the increased use of drone strikes against militants in Pakistan, and authorized US bombing of Libya. “Obama the candidate was probably much more idealistic than Obama the commander in chief,” said Stephen Grand of the Brookings Institution in Washington. “The reality of being president and having the responsibility for the welfare and security of the United States requires you to be above all pragmatic.” When she was vying with Obama for the Democratic nomination in 2008, Clinton famously ran an advertisement asking voters if they wanted her inexperienced rival answering the red crisis telephone at 3 A.M. As secretary of state, analysts say, Clinton is a strong voice on US national security policy who has pushed Obama in a more pragmatic direction out of a sense that realpolitik means the United States must at times deal with unsavory partners or stick to a tough approach. Appealing to independents Obama's failure to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for foreign terrorism suspects and support for continuing domestic surveillance policies in former President George W. Bush's Patriot Act have dismayed many supporters on the left. But Obama's tougher policies play well with independent US voters not tied closely to either political party, whose support will be essential to securing re-election in 2012. “He gets a lot of credit for making the tough call and committing the troops,” said Rick “Ozzie” Nelson, a former senior Navy intelligence officer now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. Americans were jubilant about the death of the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, boosting opinions of Obama's leadership and efforts to fight terrorism, according to a poll released on Tuesday. About four in 10 Americans said their opinion of Obama improved after he ordered the successful raid, the poll said. Bin Laden's death should even help insulate Obama if there is another terrorist attack on US soil, analysts said. Militant Islamists promised vengeance after Bin Laden's death, the State Department warned of a higher risk of anti-American violence internationally, and authorities around the world tightened security measures. Obama has lavishly praised the troops who carried out the attack, and Democratic officials have sought to avoid any appearance of triumphalism that might alienate international allies, or seeming to try to take too much credit for the raid that might lead rival Republicans to accuse Obama of seeking to use the work of the troops to score political points. “We don't want to politicize it,” one party aide said. But Bin Laden's killing will shield Obama from criticism, taking away one of the tools Republicans, who traditionally portray their party as far stronger on national security than the Democrats, could use against him during the 2012 campaign. “Obama will have a one-name answer to criticism of his national security policy: Osama Bin Laden. It's a permanent answer to any question in any debate or on the campaign that you get from the other side,” University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato said. “The implication is clear. For most voters, Bush and (his Vice President Dick) Cheney tried for seven years. They didn't get him. Obama got him.”
