A few scattered thoughts about Osama's end

They told me that if I voted for McCain, we would end up invading foreign countries and killing women and decrepit old has-beens…and they were right!

On a more serious note, the raid in Pakistan that ended Osama bin Laden’s war crime spree is very good not only for American morale, but for American credibility. The kinetic military action in Libya has been doing a bang-up job of sapping both, and fracturing NATO, for weeks. This unambiguous success helps end that skid, and might just turn President Obama into an actual president. As others have said elsewhere, for the first time in my adult life  I’m actually proud of him. I still won’t vote for him and I encourage others to oppose his re-election too, but at least when it was time to make a serious decision, he made the right one.

The Abbottabad raid also tells the world one more time that America is not to be messed with. That’s always a useful message to send.

While a great success, OBL’s death unfortunately doesn’t change any of the fundamentals that endanger the country. Islamic fascism still exists and threatens freedom everywhere. It is still advancing in the Middle East; perhaps the death of its figurehead will slow the cancer’s spread, but it won’t stop it. We’re still too mired in debt as a nation. Our economy is moribund as fuel and food prices continue to rise.

But all of that aside, this is a moment we’ll all remember decades from now. It’s up to all of us to make sure future generations remember it and defend freedom once we have passed the responsibility on to them.