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Barack Obama
Obama Didn’t Lose Sleep Over Decision To Kill bin Laden
May 8th - 8:07 pm
“As nervous as I was about this whole process, the one thing I didn’t lose sleep over was taking bin Laden out. Justice was done.”
During 60 minutes hour long special on the death of Osama bin Laden, President Barack Obama said he was nervous, and tense during the 40 minute operation last Sunday.
Obama detailed the amount of planning, and intelligence that went into the operation. He says he was first notified of the compound in August of 2010, and planning began then for a tactical mission. Obama praised the intelligence community, but in the end he said it was still only 55% to 45% that bin Laden was in the compound.
“If this is a wealthy prince from Dubai and we are sending an elite strike force team into a sovereign country, we have a problem,” Obama said.
Obama also deflected the question of why he didn’t inform Pakistani officials of the bin Laden mission. Obama said he didn’t tell his family, and most of his senior advisers, so he wasn’t going to tell people he didn’t know.
The US relationship with Pakistan has been criticized heavily in the past week, but Obama was quick to defend them as an ally.
“What I can say is, Pakistan since 9.11 has been a strong counterterrorism partner with us. There have been times when there were disagreements… they will continue. We have been able to kill more terrorists on Pakistani soil then anywhere else, and we could not have done that without Pakistani help,” Obama said.”
The President went on to say more work needs to be done to improve the relationship with Pakistan. He also echoed what we have been hearing from the administration all week that Pakistan has to come up with answers about why Osama bin Laden was able to live in Abbottabad for at least 5 years without their military knowing.
YNN/Marist Poll: NYers To Would-Be Candidate Trump, ‘You’re Fired!’
May 5th - 8:00 pm
An exclusive YNN/Marist poll finds very little support in Donald Trump’s home state for his potential presidential candidacy. In fact, a whopping three in four voters – 75 percent – don’t want the real estate mogul-turned-reality TV host to run.
Eighty-two percent of Democrats and 74 percent of independents says they would prefer to see Trump stick to his day jobs and leave politics alone in 2012. About two-thirds of The Donald’s fellow Republicans, 66 percent, agree.
“Donald Trump hasn’t crossed the threshold of credibility with New York State voters,” said Marist pollster Lee Miringoff. “He’s slightly less of a turn-off to Republicans. But even among GOPers, about two-thirds don’twant him to run.”
Trump can take comfort in the fact that he’s hardly alone.
New Yorkers don’t want to see any of the following pols challenge Obama, either: Former Gov. George Pataki (76 percent say stay out), NJ Gov. Chris Christie (66 percent), Mayor Bloomberg (64 percent), and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani (60 percent).
Out of all the potential GOP candidates, New York Republicans favor Giuliani (23 percent), former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (20 percent), former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (12 percent) or former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (10 percent). None of the others make it out of single digits, with the exception of “undecided” (10 percent).
EMBARGOED_Complete May 5th, 2011 NYS Poll Release and Tables
Obama, Giuliani Meet With NYPD
May 5th - 2:13 pm
After meeting with New York City firefighters, President Obama and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani met with members of the New York City Police Department.
Here is the full transcript of his remarks.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, listen, everybody, the — I’m not here to make a long speech. I am here basically to shake your hands and just to say how proud I am of all of you.
Obviously we had an important day on Sunday. The reason, what is important, was because it sent a signal around the world that we have never forgotten the extraordinary sacrifices that were made on September 11th. We’ve never forgotten the tragedy. We’ve never forgotten the loss of life. We’ve never forgotten the courage that was shown by the NYPD, by the firefighters, by the first responders.My understanding is all of you were there that day. And I know you’ll never forget. I know it’s hard to fill the hole that occurred as a consequence of you losing folks who you had worked with for so long. But what, hopefully, this weekend does is it says we keep them in our hearts; we haven’t forgotten; we said what we — we did what we said we were going to do; and that Americans, even in the midst of tragedy, will come together, across the years, across politics, across party, across administrations, to make sure that justice is done. More >
Obama Thanks Firefighters (Speech Text)
May 5th - 12:28 pm
Here is President Obama’s complete remarks to the firefighters of Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, listen, the main reason I came here is because I heard the food is pretty good. (Laughter.)
But to the Commissioner, to Mayor Giuliani — who obviously performed heroic acts almost 10 years ago — but most of all, to all of you, I wanted to just come up here to thank you.
This is a symbolic site of the extraordinary sacrifice that was made on that terrible day almost 10 years ago. Obviously we can’t bring back your friends that were lost, and I know that each and every one of you not only grieve for them, but have also over the last 10 years dealt with their family, their children, trying to give them comfort, trying to give them support.
What happened on Sunday, because of the courage of our military and the outstanding work of our intelligence, sent a message around the world, but also sent a message here back home that when we say we will never forget, we mean what we say; that our commitment to making sure that justice is done is something that transcended politics, transcended party; it didn’t matter which administration was in, it didn’t matter who was in charge, we were going to make sure that the perpetrators of that horrible act — that they received justice.
Oneidas: Renounce ‘Geronimo’ Code Name For Bin Laden
May 4th - 6:03 pm
Like other American Indian nations today, The Oneida Nation is calling on President Obama to renounce the codename of “Geronimo” used for Sept. 11 architect Osama bin Laden.
From Oneida Nation Representative Ray Halbritter:
All of us continue to mourn for the lives lost on 9-11, and we remember with pride the way our country came together to support one another following that awful day. In the spirit of bringing about that type of unity once again, we must address the use of an American Indian icon’s name, Geronimo, as the code name for Osama bin Laden.
Geronimo was an Apache leader who fought against the U.S. and Mexican governments over territorial expansion. Halbritter called Geronimo “an inspiration and hero to millions of American Indians and non-Indians alike” who shouldn’t be associated with a villain like bin Laden.
It’s unclear how the codename “Geronimo” was developed for the world’s most wanted man. The message “Geronimo EKIA” was sent to the White House from CIA Director Leon Panetta following the confirmation of his death. The real Geronimo was also the subject of an intense manhunt by the U.S. Army, and was captured alive.
Other American Indian officials today also criticized the use of Geronimo, USA Today reported.
Bloomberg: ‘We’re All A Target’
May 4th - 12:11 pm
ICYMI: Mayor Bloomberg appeared on the CBS News “Early Show” this morning to discuss President Obama’s visit to Ground Zero tomorrow.
He dodged the question about who will get to meet with Obama (the White House has been playing that pretty close to the vest so far), but did talk a little bit about security challenges at Ground Zero in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death.
“I think we’re all a target,” the mayor said. “We will provide the utmost security down at that site. We’ve been doing it for the last nine and a half years. We’ll continue to do that.”
“Commissioner (Ray) Kelly has this downtown security plan. It’s cameras. It’s technology that you don’t even know exists. It’s a lot of boots on the ground. We’ll continue to do that. But I think the danger here is that we think because one man is no longer alive, that the threat has gone away, and that’s not true.”
“The message of 9/11 and the message of 1993 when there was a bomb attack at the World Trade Center site is that our freedoms are constantly being threatened. And after 1993, we forgot. We learned nothing from that…I think so far, (after 9/11), we have not forgotten that lesson.”
No Pataki Invite To Obama’s Ground Zero Visit (Updated)
May 4th - 10:35 am
A source close to former Gov. George Pataki, who was governor on the day of the Sept. 11 attacks, said he was yet to receive an invitation to President Obama’s Thursday visit to Ground Zero.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, however, was invited to the event, but it is unclear if he will attend as Maggie Haberman reported. The terror attacks were the defining moment of Giuliani’s mayoralty and Pataki’s public role in the attacks was overshadowed by “America’s Mayor.”
Obama’s trip to Ground Zero follows the death of Osama bin Laden at the hand’s of U.S. forces in Pakistan on Sunday.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office is yet to announce if he will attend. But sources with direct knowledge of the plans say the governor’s office is coordinating with the White House on possibly attending.
Cuomo has skipped the president’s political events and fundraisers held in New York City, but did attend Obama’s visit to General Electric in Schenectady.
During his first unsuccessful run for governor in 2002, Cuomo infamously criticized Pataki for his response to Sept. 11, saying “He held the leader’s coat.”
Most notably, former President George W. Bush is not attending the event, choosing to stay out of the spotlight in his post-presidency.
UPDATE: A Pataki source says the former governor received a call from the White House shortly after noon today inviting him to join the president tomorrow. (CapTon, getting results).
Now the question is: Will he attend? The former governor is traveling in the southwest and it’s unclear whether he’ll be able to make it back in time for the Grounz Zero event, which is taking place in the afternoon.
An Inside View Of The Situation Room
May 2nd - 6:16 pm
The White House’s official flickr stream posted this rather intense-looking photo of President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and his national security team monitoring the Special Forces mission that ultimately resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden.
Accounts of how the mission went down, including the dramatic scuttling of a helicopter, can be found here and here.
President Obama’s Complete Remarks
May 2nd - 12:26 am
Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.
It was nearly 10 years ago that a bright September day was darkened by the worst attack on the American people in our history. The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory — hijacked planes cutting through a cloudless September sky; the Twin Towers collapsing to the ground; black smoke billowing up from the Pentagon; the wreckage of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the actions of heroic citizens saved even more heartbreak and destruction.
And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father. Parents who would never know the feeling of their child’s embrace. Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts.
Obama: Bin Laden Death Should Unite Country
May 1st - 11:53 pm
President Obama addressed the nation from the East Room of the White House shortly after 11:30 p.m. this evening to announce that terrorist leader Osama bin Laden had been killed in a fire fight by U.S. troops in Pakistan earlier today.
Obama said the White House had first been alerted to a lead on bin Laden’s whereabouts back in August.
The president said that “small team of Americans carried out operation. They took care to avoid civilian casualties.”
No Americans were killed in the incident, and troops were able to secure bin Laden’s body.
It remains unclear if the Pakistani government was alerted to the operation prior to its commencement.
Obama closed the speech by issuing a call to unity among Americans, much like the mood that prevailed shortly after the attacks in 2001. Broadcast news reports showed a cheering crowd had gathered outside the White House in anticipation of the president’s address.
Bin Laden’s death “marks the most significant achievement to date in terror war, but we must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad,” Obama said.
He added: “Tonight we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our minds to.”
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