Killings boost Obama's national security credentials
WASHINGTON – With the killing of another major terrorist leader in Yemen today, President Obama is burnishing his credentials as a strong leader on national security.
The question for his re-election campaign next year is: Will it matter?
It was a Democratic strategist, James Carville, who coined the phrase "It's the economy, stupid" as his candidate, Bill Clinton, took down George H.W. Bush less than two years after Bush led an international coalition against Saddam Hussein.
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Today, Democrats freely acknowledge Obama's circumstances are similar. "He's done better in counterterrorism than he has in economics," says former congresswoman Jane Harman, director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
The economy is dominating the fledgling 2012 presidential race, and Obama is suffering as a result. His job approval rating was 42% in the most recent USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, and it was 39% in today's Gallup tracking poll.
Voters give him his highest grades on combating terrorism — by a 63%-33% margin in a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll in May, after the killing of Osama bin Laden. The results were almost the opposite on the economy: 37% approved, 60% disapproved.
Bin Laden's death briefly boosted the president's overall ratings above 50% in Gallup's polling. That was the highest he had risen since November 2009. But it didn't last long.
No one expects the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki to have even that brief effect. Few Americans had heard of the American-born terrorist, whose teachings influenced U.S. Maj. Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, and Nigerian underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted to blow up a plane over Detroit later that year.
The killings even could hurt Obama's re-election if they make Americans feel safer: They could make terrorism less of a concern compared with the economy.
Still, several lawmakers and experts interviewed Friday said the record Obama is building on national security should help him with the two words Americans want most from their president: strong leader.
"People want their president to lead, no matter where they are philosophically," says Rep. C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger, D-Md., top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. "If you look at his policies, whether you're Republican or Democrat, he's done well in this area. We're safer because of his decisions."
Former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton, who chaired the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Obama benefits from the improved ability of the U.S. defense and intelligence communities to identify, locate and eliminate terrorist leaders. "It will accrue to the president's benefit, because it does show progress," he said. "This happened on the president's watch, and he deserves credit for that."
Republicans such as House Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter King and former U.S. attorney general Richard Ashcroft credited the president for the latest killing, just as Republicans did after bin Laden's demise. "The president has done the right thing here," Ashcroft said on Fox News.
If nothing else, says Tufts University's Richard Eichenberg, an expert on public opinion and foreign policy, Obama's success removes a perennial Republican argument: that Democrats are weak on national security.
In fact, Eichenberg says, "it has the potential to highlight the lack of experience that the Republicans (running for president) have on national security issues."
Those candidates, in particular former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, do have experience on economic issues. When the discussion returns to the economy, Harman says, Obama should be able to argue that a safer country will help.
"More homeland attacks in America," she said, "will definitely be bad for business."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2011-09-30/obama-analysis/50619058/1
殺害推動奧巴馬的國家安全憑據華盛頓 - 殺害的又一重大今天在也門的恐怖分子頭目，奧巴馬總統是收買他作為一個強有力的領導人為他競選連任明年是對國家安全。問題的憑據：問題？
這是一個民主黨戰略家詹姆斯卡維爾，誰創造的短語“這是經濟，愚蠢的”，他的候選人，克林頓，喬治布殊率領不到兩年後，布什對薩達姆的國際聯盟。今天，自由民主黨承認奧巴馬的情況類似。 “他在反恐比他在經濟學，說：”前眾議員簡哈曼，伍德羅威爾遜國際學者中心主任。
經濟是主導剛剛起步的2012年總統競選，奧巴馬是作為結果的痛苦。他的工作滿意度為 42％，在最近的今日美國報 /蓋洛普民意測驗，它是在今天的蓋洛普跟踪調查的39％。
選民給他他的關於打擊恐怖主義的最高等級 - 在五月由63％-33％，在今日美國 /蓋洛普民意測驗的保證金後，殺害烏薩馬本拉丹。結果幾乎相反對經濟：37％批出的，60％拒登。
拉登的死亡簡要地推動了總統的整體收視率超過 50％蓋洛普的投票。這是他自2009年11月上升最高。但好景不長。
沒有人期望殺害安瓦爾 al - Awlaki的，即使有這短暫的效果。很少有美國人聽說過在美國出生的恐怖分子，其教義的影響，是誰殺了13人，得克薩斯州胡德堡，2009年的美國少校尼達爾哈桑，和尼日利亞的內衣轟炸機歐麥爾法魯克 Abdulmutallab，企圖炸毀的飛機超過底特律那年晚些時候。
殺人，甚至可能會傷害奧巴馬的競選連任，如果他們讓美國人感到更安全：他們可以使恐怖主義的關注與經濟比較少。
儘管如此，一些國會議員和專家接受本報記者採訪時週五表示，奧巴馬的紀錄是在國家安全建設應該幫助他與這兩個詞的美國人希望他們的總統最強有力的領導。
CA的眾議員說：“人們希望他們的總統，鉛，無論身在何處，他們是哲學，” “荷蘭”Ruppersberger D - MD，頂部眾議院情報委員會的民主黨。 “如果你看看他的政策，不管你是共和黨還是民主黨，他做得很好，在這方面，我們更安全，因為他的決定。”
前民主黨眾議員李漢密爾頓，誰主持的眾議院外交事務委員會說，奧巴馬從美國的國防和情報界，識別，定位和消除恐怖主義領導人的能力提高的好處。 “它會產生總統的利益，因為它沒有取得進展，”他說。 “這發生在布什總統的手錶，而他值得信用。”
眾議院情報委員會主席彼得國王和美國前司法部長理查德阿什克羅夫特等共和黨計入最新殺害總統，共和黨人就像拉登的消亡後。 “阿什克羅夫特說：”總統已經做了正確的事情，在福克斯新聞網。
如果不出意外，塔夫茨大學的理查德Eichenberg，對公眾輿論和外交政策專家說，奧巴馬的成功消除了常年共和黨的說法：民主黨人在國家安全中的薄弱。
Eichenberg說，“事實上，它有可能突出，共和黨的（競選總統）在國家安全問題的經驗的缺乏。”
這些候選人，尤其是前馬薩諸塞州州長羅姆尼和得克薩斯州州長佩里，也有在經濟問題上的經驗。當討論的經濟回報，哈曼說，奧巴馬應該能夠認為，將有助於一個更安全的國家。
“在美國國土的攻擊，”她說，“一定會生意不好。”
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