Bin Laden Dead- What Happens Now?

[Lief 🗽]

Third, you are going to hear this come from Obama's lips every single chance he gets to boost his approvals and dems will politicize this to kingdom come.  They in effect will be doing the very thing that they maligned republicans for - politicizing 9/11 for gain.  

9/11 was a failure of the Bush administration to keep the country safe. Killing Osama bin Laden, on the other hand, is a policy success.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Oh, Obama gets a bump of some sort (predicting actual numbers is rather difficult).  And then it'll go away.

In the end, barring a major war or something, Obama's re-election is all about the economy, and if bad, whether the country trusts the Republican to run things again, remembering Bush.  Since the economy will be bad, the key question is really the latter.  Just how bad the economy feels to the ordinary American does impact how much weight is given the second question, so you can't ignore the first question.

[Smash255]

As far as approvals I would say thing brings him up to the 60's, and barring any other major developments will settle in the mid 50's

[Associate Justice PiT]

I'd say around 60% but it won't stay there very long.

     Yup. I'm guessing they peak at 58%, return to current numbers within six months.

[Nichlemn]

If 9/11 got Bush's approval up to 90%, I can't see how killing Osama won't result in a similar success. The country isn't that much more polarised than 10 years ago. Racism will probably reduce the upside potential but I'd be very surprised if Obama doesn't poll above 70% at least initially.

[sentinel]

I think long-term perceptions of Obama are completely changed as a result of this. People will see him as a more effective commander in chief, a more decisive leader, as well as a strong leader. No one can seriously question the President's patriotism (not saying anyone took them seriously prior) without looking insane.

[opebo]

If 9/11 got Bush's approval up to 90%, I can't see how killing Osama won't result in a similar success. The country isn't that much more polarised than 10 years ago. Racism will probably reduce the upside potential but I'd be very surprised if Obama doesn't poll above 70% at least initially.

Seriously?  Who cares about this issue now?

[Landslide Lyndon]

Obama's approval will be VERY high tommorow

I think he hurt himself waiting THIS long though to announce (not that his poll numbers will drop, but they won't be as high as they could have been), fox got it first. It's 45 minutes late, he lost the umph of announcing it as President.

WTF? Are you sniffing glue Bob?

[Penelope]

Obama's approval reaches at least 65%, and settles around 55% after a couple of months.

[Mr. Morden]

The 2012ers react:

http://gop12.thehill.com/2011/05/welcome-to-hell-bin-laden.html

[exopolitician]

What happens now? America gets crucified from Europe and everyone else in the world, because we are just so bad!

[Joe Republic]

The 2012ers react:

http://gop12.thehill.com/2011/05/welcome-to-hell-bin-laden.html

Mike Huckabee "welcoming" bin Laden to Hell explains quite a lot.

[Penelope]

What happens now? America gets crucified from Europe and everyone else in the world, because we are just so bad!

Fail. Europe will be just as happy about this as we are, probably.

[BlueSwan]

Obama's approval reaches at least 65%, and settles around 55% after a couple of months.

I doubt it. The climate is too polarized for numbers like that, I think. I think 60% is pretty much his ceiling and I don't even think he'll reach that level - certainly not for more than a few days anyway. The people who "strongly disapprove" of Obama - which according to Rasmussen is almost 40% of the electorate - won't suddenly approve of him because of this and if they do it won't last more than a couple of euphoric days.

[pbrower2a]

What happens now? America gets crucified from Europe and everyone else in the world, because we are just so bad!

Fail. Europe will be just as happy about this as we are, probably.

Also India -- big time. Don't forget India, the world's most populous country.

Osama bin Laden wasn't popular in either China, either.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

What happens now? America gets crucified from Europe and everyone else in the world, because we are just so bad!

[izixs]

What happens now? America gets crucified from Europe and everyone else in the world, because we are just so bad!

Alright, I think this thread has gotten too silly. Of course in the event that this is a Poe's law problem and ye being serious, I suggest you attend some classes on the basics of international relations and current European culture and politics.

[Modernity has failed us]

I don't understand why people are saying a Republican will beat Obama now, this should be the greatest incentive for his re-election in 2012. The armed forces-controlled by Bush-hunted him for five years, but under Obama, they found him and killed him within two years. I think this is a bad thing for the GOP.

[Joe Republic]

I don't understand why people are saying a Republican will beat Obama now, this should be the greatest incentive for his re-election in 2012. The armed forces-controlled by Bush-hunted him for five years, but under Obama, they found him and killed him within two years. I think this is a bad thing for the GOP.

On paper, you'd be right.  However, Republicans are just better at the whole patriotic rally-round-the-flag stuff than Democrats.  As soon as they can find a way of taking credit for this, they'll use it.

[Modernity has failed us]

I don't understand why people are saying a Republican will beat Obama now, this should be the greatest incentive for his re-election in 2012. The armed forces-controlled by Bush-hunted him for five years, but under Obama, they found him and killed him within two years. I think this is a bad thing for the GOP.

On paper, you'd be right.  However, Republicans are just better at the whole patriotic rally-round-the-flag stuff than Democrats.  As soon as they can find a way of taking credit for this, they'll use it.

Slimy...

[BlueSwan]

How are Foxnews and conservative talk radio spinning this?

[Mr. Morden]

If 9/11 got Bush's approval up to 90%, I can't see how killing Osama won't result in a similar success.

You can't?  Don't you think this is going to be seen as a much smaller scale event than 9/11 itself?  I really don't see why this kind of thing would be expected to boost the prez's numbers by 20 or 30 points.  Bin Laden's death is not a political earthquake, like 9/11 was.

[Cincinnatus]

If 9/11 got Bush's approval up to 90%, I can't see how killing Osama won't result in a similar success.

You can't?  Don't you think this is going to be seen as a much smaller scale event than 9/11 itself?  I really don't see why this kind of thing would be expected to boost the prez's numbers by 20 or 30 points.  Bin Laden's death is not a political earthquake, like 9/11 was.

It'll just be a small, temporary shift.  Unless the economy all of a sudden rebounds, no one should expect what boost he gets to stick.

[Mechaman]

If 9/11 got Bush's approval up to 90%, I can't see how killing Osama won't result in a similar success.

You can't?  Don't you think this is going to be seen as a much smaller scale event than 9/11 itself?  I really don't see why this kind of thing would be expected to boost the prez's numbers by 20 or 30 points.  Bin Laden's death is not a political earthquake, like 9/11 was.

This.

By the time Obama became president it would've already been too late for the death of Osama Bin Laden to result in "unanimous approval" from the American people.  By now we are way past the euphoric AMERICA!  F*** YEAH! state we were in from late 2001-early 2005 (being real generous here).  The American people are way too disillusioned with the military industrial complex after the years of mismanagement and "interventionist overkill" that has happened under Bush for there to be any widespread "rally around the flag effect".  A lot of Americans, especially Republican partisans who would've disapproved of Obama no matter what, would feel that Osama was killed 5 years too late.
Will this help Obama's approval ratings?  Of course it will, but I would be surprised if it's over 70%.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

The real hope for Obama here is that Bin Laden's death sparks a psychological change that leads to a sharp economic recovery.