President Bush Politicized 9/11 Long Before Obama Used Bin Laden's Death

I have to admit, it is kind of humorous to hear the Republicans accusing President Obama of politicizing the killing of Osama bin Laden. Hearing them complain about how insulted and outraged they are that the President is politicizing our military and national security and attacking Mitt Romney in the process leads to me wonder if they are hypocrites or if they were in a coma during the presidency of George W. Bush. 

In case it turns out that Republicans were in fact in a coma, let me remind them of some of the ways they have politicized national security, spiked the football, and questioned whether a presidential candidate was strong on the issue.

During the 2004 campaign, Vice President Dick Cheney said, “If we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again -- that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States." Arianna Huffington said that President Obama's bin Laden ad was one of the “most despicable things you can do.” I disagree. A Vice President saying that if you elect the other guy (John Kerry), it will invite a terrorist attack is far more despicable than a harmless political ad.

And while we are on the subject of using unifying moments in political ads (which Republicans are so dead set against right now) perhaps they forgot about this ad from President Bush in the 2004 campaign. The ad not only showed Ground Zero, but also displayed a flag-covered body being carried from the site. Where was the Republican outrage over then, in an advertisement which blatantly politicized 9/11?

In addition to their outrage over the politicization of the bin Laden raid, Republicans have also been accusing the President of being arrogant by “spiking the football.” They say that such an act diminishes the office of the presidency, all while forgetting that the last Republican president did this.

At least President Obama is spiking the football after a successful mission, as opposed to President Bush, who spiked the football before the war in Iraq was even over. More than 4,000 American soldiers lost their lives after Bush declared “Mission Accomplished.”

Is President Obama bragging about giving the order to kill bin Laden? Of course he is. And he absolutely should be. I would expect any president, Democrat or Republican, to do the same. This was a momentous occasion in our nation's history which ended the life of a man who murdered 3,000 innocent Americans. For Republicans to act as if this is some unprecedented act that diminishes the office of the presidency shows nothing but blatant hypocrisy and quite frankly, makes them sound like a bunch of whiners.

The only reason they are so upset, is that President Obama gets to run this bin Laden ad, and not them.