Yes our president is expected to be more popular now that he showed the world he can kill well. The sick nature of this nation has become so much clearer now. All the analogies that come to mind. The shoot out at the OK corral. Nice odds there too...one guy with a slingshot (but certainly not David) and the other with a nuclear arsenal, troops galore, sophisticated technology (but certainly no Goliath) and guess who wins? It took almost ten years but "we" did it! Well folks, I find the whole sceneario a bit depressing. Now we have shown that killing is wrong by killing a killer. When will we be able see this all in the context of an imperial nation gunning down those that have the audacity to attack it. Bin Laden was not going to win and he knew it. Somewhere in him was a something I have no words for that made him stick to it and to try to make his point by killing. There is nothing to admire there. Is there something to hate? There's the rub to me. If he was motivated by hate then why do we emulate him? Read on below and I'll explain in more detail.
First of all, the fact that it took almost ten years and so very many lives to accomplish this needs to be put into perspective. All the media spin and hype about "a new form of warfare" is rather hard to swallow. We hunted him, went to war, used so many valuable resources along with killing all kinds of innocent people, and we rejoice when he is finally dead. I am glad it is over and would be much happier if I could even hope that we now have ended the killing.
The President spoke of a kind of "justice". That one word need volumes of elaboration. Justice was had for the "eye for an eye" form of justice. Certainly gunning him down rather than capturing him and bringing him to trial to account for his crimes was seen as the only option. This is a lesser form of justice in my set of values.
What distinguishes this event from the quest of any imperial nation to make those it seeks to control stay in line by promising forceful retaliation if they don't? The responsibility for the murders on 9/11 clearly rests on Bin Laden and his team for without them it would probably never have happened. Unfortunately it does not stop there. In the larger scheme of things it is a complex situation and has no clear way of being resolved into parts. We are locked into a world situation that would take enormous effort to change. It is worth all the effort we exerted to kill one man and a lot more to try to change this situation. That effort is not even being considered.
Finally what does it say about the real values of the American people? What do all the patriotic posturing and "self-defense" pleas accomplish? What are we really? Do we fear that if anyone else could ever become as strong as we are they might do to us what we do to others? I hope it never happens. It is the nature of the "live by the sword and then die by the sword" saying. Someone bless America. We need help.