Obama: Just Trust Me

Inquiring minds apparently don’t want to know.

Most in the activist old media seem very willing to accept and even perpetuate the president’s argument for not releasing the death photos of Osama bin Laden.

The same media that has fought disclosure issues all the way to the Highest Court in the land, released Abu Ghraib photos, and battled George W. Bush on numerous disclosure issues (remember the terrorist banking disclosure issue?) now seems more than willing to just trust Dear Leader.

It’s like something from the Twilight Zone. “Just trust me” said the Kanamits in that memorable Rod Serling segment, “To Serve Man,” before they led the people away and put them on the menu.

“We don’t need to spike the football,” Obama told Steve Kroft in an interview with “60 Minutes” (it is the May ratings period, after all.) Spike the football, is that what he thinks this is all about? Who thinks that, asks a Twitter parody persona called ObamaStrawman.

Obama throws out straw man after straw man so that he can easily knock them down and the media is always there just in case one of those straw men actually shoves back. Was Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times joking when he defended the president for not disclosing the photos while on CNN the other night? Nope—he was serious and said it with a straight face. The NY Times saying that.

This seems silly to even argue this issue. Why somebody wants to see the photo is of no business of the president. We can spike the football if we want, we can wrap our car in the death photo, or we can ignore it altogether. I wouldn’t recommend any of those things, but Liberty is a crazy thing and always better than the alternative.

“That’s not who we are,” says Obama. Don’t tell me who I am, Mr. President.

Obama may have a Constitutional issue on his hands here. It will be very interesting to see if any of the media fight for the right to see the photos, but I’m guessing/hoping eventually somebody will file a Freedom of Information request, and I don’t see how Obama wins that fight.

You also hear the argument that our troops could be harmed by the release of dead bin Laden photos. Please—did CBS think about that before they released the Abu Ghraib photos? Our brave volunteer troops are in danger every day. Jihad was declared on the free world 30 years ago and since that time, nobody has been totally safe from the wrath of Muslim extremists. Troop safety is an obvious priority for everyone, but the left “cherry picks” this argument. They use it to excuse the president for not releasing the photos, but ignore it when they celebrate on air how Obama killed Osama! Besides, where does this argument end? We could paralyze ourselves every time we use it, and the left uses on a whim. Remember, they were supposed to like us if we just elected Obama?

The President and his media also say conspiracy theories will abound regardless of what he does. Yes—they probably will, but again, this is not the point here.

By the way, nobody with any credibility questions the death of bin Laden, so Obama creates another staw man here and the media work to give that straw man a brain and a spine, and who knows, perhaps a Cabinet Seat someday. Of course, if Obama really cared about conspiracies then releasing the photos should help reduce conspiracies.

Bottom line, as great a job as the Navy SEALs did in pulling off this mission, the Obama administration has done an equally horrible job in the aftermath. Their story keeps changing, they add, they detract, they create straw men, they deflect, the give too much information, they refuse information, they give wrong information, and by my count there’s at least 14 people seen watching the raid in the official White House photo. Many have said what they saw and we’re still not sure what happened.

Getting this story straight should’ve been the easy part, they only compound the issue with their refusal to release the photos, and besides, releasing the photo could help us learn more information about how bin Laden was killed. Until then, just trust Dear Leader.