Thoughts on Obama and Osama and Tornado relief in the Black Belt or the lack thereof

I've been struggling about how to say what is on my mind and in my heart in regard to the death of Osama bin Laden, but thanks to Curtis Abby for directing me to this Glenn Glenwald post which conveys my sentiments exactly.

I'd have strongly preferred that Osama bin Laden be captured rather than killed so that he could be tried for his crimes and punished in accordance with due process (and to obtain presumably ample intelligence).

I cringe every time I hear someone jubilantly say "Obama killed Osama". Call me crazy but I don't want my President associated with killing anybody. What's really ironic is the so called pro-life republicans are the mains ones celebrating the "killing of Osama", the same ones who just last week were calling President Obama an undercover Socialist Muslim sympathizer born in Kenya.

And then there's the notion that America has once again proved its greatness and preeminence by killing bin Laden. Americans are marching in the street celebrating with a sense of national pride. When is the last time that happened? It seems telling that hunting someone down and killing them is one of the few things that still produce these feelings of nationalistic unity. I got on an airplane last night before the news of bin Laden's killing was known and had actually intended to make this point with regard to our killing of Gadaffi's son in Libya -- a mere 25 years after President Reagan bombed Libya and killed Gadaffi's infant daughter

I find the celebrating troubling, and I'm not defending Osama, but, let us not forget Osama was accused of being the mastermind behind the 911. As a matter of fact Police arrested Khalid Shaikh Mohammed as the Mastermind of September 11, 2001 attack on the United States.

I agree with Greenwald;

In sum, a murderous religious extremist was killed. The U.S. has erupted in a collective orgy of national pride and renewed faith in the efficacy and righteousness of military force. Other than that, the repercussions are likely to be far greater in terms of domestic politics -- it's going to be a huge boost to Obama's re-election prospects and will be exploited for that end -- than anything else.

Dr. Boyce Watkins notes the jump in President Obama's approval rating and notes although his stock has improved with white voters, African American voters are not that impressed.

In the “economic basement” of America lies the black community, where unemployment rates are nearly double those for white Americans. In spite of the massive popularity enjoyed by the Obama Administration, millions of African Americans suffer quietly, while being comforted by images of a black couple sitting in the Oval Office. What will be interesting to see is whether or not these disenfranchised Americans will feel inspired to return to the polls for Obama’s reelection in 2012.
Many black people vote in the same way we listen to music: Our love for our favorite artist may not translate into record sales, since we can listen to our artists for free on the Internet. In other words, massive black support for President Obama may not translate into votes if black folks don’t believe that voting for Obama will serve to reduce their suffering. The same way that purchasing music costs money, taking a day off of work to go to the polls is costly as well. If African Americans are not convinced that having a black president will make a real difference in their lives, black folks may just support the Obamas from the sidelines.

I will close by saying I get nervous when one person decides another person needs to be taken out because they decide the other person is an evil dictator/ despot. I get really nervous when the rule of law is bent because the only thing standing between us (collective) and the evil dictator/despot is the rule of law. David Swanson say's Osama Bin Lynched.

And so, after nearly a decade, our government bothered to look for bin Laden, found him, and murdered him. But what choice did they have? A truly fair trial would always involve the risk of acquittal. A semi-fair trial would have risked bringing up undesirable topics, such as the US failure to prevent 9-11, our decades' old support for bin Laden, bin Laden's evasion of the US in 2001 and ever since, bin Laden's reasons for 9-11, and the question of precedent. If we gave bin Laden a semi-fair trial, how would we explain denying one to so many other people? And a truly unfair military trial would have made the United States look even worse. As a CIA guy told me on the radio yesterday: killing him was "cleaner."

Black Agenda Report Columnist Jared Bell asks

What kind of nation finds “renewal” in targeted assassination, reaffirmation of its destiny in the ritualized killing of the ultimate “Other”? Must the U.S. national mission consist of paying $2 billion a week to blow up the poorest people in the world? How about simply changing the country’s public policy so as to make sure that Obama is actually responsible for less death and destruction than the so-called leading terrorist now recently and apparently deceased.

While the President and the national media are focused on the killing of Osama, Tornado relief is missing the South's poor and rural communities thanks to states red republican leadership.

Reports are emerging that some hard-hit areas are being left out of needed assistance due to their isolation and the fact that their plight is not being reported in the media. While news coverage has focused largely on the destruction in urban areas including the Alabama cities of Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, the storms also impacted many small rural communities in Alabama's Black Belt.

Osama is dead. Obama is hero. Let's move on. People in America are suffering and dying at the hands of the TeaPublicans enabled by the Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads. I want President Obama to "take them out" with the same steely determination he used take out Osama bin Laden. I want him to stop the weapons of mass distraction and make sure the people in the south who voted for him don't get left behind.