OBAMA CAMPAIGN COMES OUT SWINGING AGAINST NAVY SEALS

[Travis]

http://clashdaily.com/2012/08/obama-campaign-comes-out-swinging-against-seals-navy-seals/
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OBAMA CAMPAIGN COMES OUT SWINGING AGAINST SEALS… NAVY SEALS****

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By Clash Daily <http://clashdaily.com/author/clashdaily/> / 16 August 2012
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TheAtlanticWire- Politically speaking, Navy SEALs aren’t the safest targets
to rail against in a presidential race, but the Obama campaign isn’t
hesitating to take down a group of former SEALs who’ve criticized the
president’s national security decisions.****

On Thursday morning, campaign officials waged a full court press against
the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund, a group of former U.S. Special
Forces and intelligence
officials<http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/08/you-didnt-build-meme-takes-bin-laden-raid-you-didnt-kill/55791/>accusing
President Obama of leaking vital national security secrets and
taking too much credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden. When the group
launched its anti-Obama media campaign Wednesday, consisting of TV ads and
a 22-minute 
film<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-Xfti7qtT0&feature=player_embedded#%21>,
it wasn’t clear if Obama officials would avoid a potentially messy
confrontation or refute the military veterans publicly. But now the
campaign has made clear it views the attacks in the same light as the 2004
John Kerry “Swift Boat” attack ads, which, however misleading, were
painfully effective.****

“The Republicans are resorting to ‘Swift Boat’ tactics because when it
comes to foreign policy and national security, Mitt Romney has offered
nothing but reckless rhetoric,” Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt
toldReuters’ Mark
Hosenball<http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/16/us-usa-campaign-binladen-ad-idUSBRE87E01F20120816>last
night. Taking a direct shot at the leaders of OPSEC, an Obama campaign
official lambasted the group’s accusations about national security leaks
this morning.* *“No one in this group is in a position to speak with any
authority on these issues and on what impact these leaks might have,” said
the official, speaking on background, “and it’s clear they’ve resorted to
making things up for purely political reasons.”
[image: Description:
http://cdn.theatlanticwire.com/img/upload/2012/08/16/Screen%20shot%202012-08-16%20at%209.40.49%20AM.png]Apparently,
the administration has decided this is a battle worth fighting, a
calculation that has its own risks and potential payoffs. On one hand, it’s
not clear that elevating the discussion over who deserves credit for the
bin Laden mission is valuable to the administration. As a May 2011
USAToday/Gallup
poll
<http://www.gallup.com/poll/147395/Americans-Back-Bin-Laden-Mission-Credit-Military-CIA.aspx>showed,
Americans overwhelmingly credit the U.S. military and the CIA for the
mission over the president. “The U.S. military and the CIA emerge as the
big winners in the public’s eyes,” wrote Gallup’s Frank Newport. “Nearly 9
of 10 (89%) say the military deserves ‘a great deal of credit,’ while 62%
say the same about the CIA.”****

At the same time, it’s possible that OPSEC’s message could gain traction
and hurt the Obama campaign, which would make it worth refuting. As we
noted 
yesterday<http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/08/you-didnt-build-meme-takes-bin-laden-raid-you-didnt-kill/55791/>,
rebutting the ad shouldn’t be hard to do. “Mr. President, you did not kill
Osama bin Laden, America did,” intones the OPSEC film. It’s pretty obvious
to most Americans that the president didn’t personally kill Al Qaeda’s
number one leader, even though he did authorize the mission. Also, there
are numerous examples of the president giving credit to the Navy SEALs and
other national security officials like this
quotation<http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/02/remarks-president-osama-bin-laden>given
on the night the raid was announced:
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Tonight, we give thanks to the countless intelligence and counterterrorism
professionals who’ve worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome. The
American people do not see their work, nor know their names. But tonight,
they feel the satisfaction of their work and the result of their pursuit of
justice. We give****

thanks for the men who carried out this operation, for they exemplify the
professionalism, patriotism, and unparalleled courage of those who serve
our country.****

Additionally, as *The Los Angeles Times’ *Ken
Dilanian<http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-group-attacking-obama-for-security-leaks-includes-past-leakers-20120815,0,2590161.story>notes
today, a number of OPSEC leaders identify as Republicans, such as
Fred Rustmann, who worked for the CIA for 23 years before retiring in 1990,
Scott Taylor, a former Navy SEAL and chairman of OPSEC, and Chad Kolton, an
OPSEC member and former flack in the Bush administration. At this point,
the effectiveness of the OPSEC attacks rely almost exclusively on the
identity of who’s leveling the attacks (former Navy SEALs) rather than the
merit of the attacks. Still, the jury’s out on whether it’s a fight worth
picking for the Obama campaign.****


Read more at 
theatlanticwire.com<http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/08/obama-campaign-strikes-back-against-former-navy-seals/55847/>
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