Charlie Cook: Obama Not Helped by bin Laden Death

Columnist Charlie Cook writes in the National Journal that although the successful assault on Osama bin Laden is a seminal moment, "it might be a mistake to assume that it is a more enduring game-changer in terms of the politics of 2012 or that it will recast Obama as much as it did for Clinton.

“Democrats will fervently hope that the public will see this as a seminal moment in which people begin to see and appreciate President Obama in a new light, much as President Bill Clinton’s speech after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, in retrospect, was a turning point for his presidency,” he opines.

“[F]or Obama and Democrats, this is a B-12 shot in the arm, or adrenaline, a great rush and a welcomed respite. But it’s not a cure.”

Not only is the historic event not a cure, it is not what the doctor ordered in the important quarter of presidential politics, Cook warns. Indeed, the triumph “will likely exacerbate the malaise that many Republicans feel about their field of presidential candidates, sucking much of what little oxygen there is from the room.

“For the serious but lesser-known potential GOP candidates, they can expect to be robbed of the attention and respect they need and deserve for a while longer, giving the carnival sideshow contenders yet another 15 minutes in which to hog the spotlight in what has become an ongoing embarrassment for many Republicans.”

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