Ladies and Gentlemen, Presenting Our Warrior in Chief (Press Correspondents' Dinner 2012)

"My fellow Americans, we gather during a historic anniversary. Last year at this time -- in fact, on this very weekend -- we finally delivered justice to one of the world’s most notorious individuals."

  About.com: Political Humor

Which is where I turned off the video. ”Delivering justice” - is that what we're calling murder without trial these days? Somehow, the terms “extrajudicial” and “justice” seem a little contradictory to me. A yearly celebration is not exactly what I would think is called for by law-abiding, Constitution-quoting, freedom-loving Americans for putting a bullet in the head of a dying, unarmed man in front of his family and then dumping his corpse in the sea, no matter how notorious.

Of course the press event is for entertainment purposes, and I did later read the transcript of Obama's speech. So let me quote you the funniest part:

"I do want to end tonight on a slightly more serious note -- whoever takes the oath of office next January will face some great challenges, but he will also inherit traditions that make us greater than the challenges we face. And one of those traditions is represented here tonight: a free press that isn't afraid to ask questions, to examine and to criticize.

[...]

"Tonight, we remember journalists such as Anthony Shadid and Marie Colvin -- (applause) -- who made the ultimate sacrifice as they sought to shine a light on some of the most important stories of our time. So whether you are a blogger or a broadcaster, whether you take on powerful interests here at home or put yourself in harm's way overseas, I have the greatest respect and admiration for what you do. I know sometimes you like to give me a hard time -- and I certainly like to return the favor -- (laughter) -- but I never forget that our country depends on you. You help protect our freedom, our democracy, and our way of life."

Yeah, right...just ask prize-winning journalist Laura Poitras. That's almost as good as his joke at last year's press celebration:

President Obama noted that in the audience were the Jonas brothers.

"Sasha and Malia are huge fans," he said, "but boys, don't get any ideas. Two words for you : predator drones. You will never see it coming.”

  ABC News

And it got the laughs.

[M]ost Democrats are perfectly aware of Obama’s military aggression. They don’t support him despite that, but rather, that’s one of the things they love about him. After years of being mocked by the Right as Terrorist-coddling weaklings, Obama — strutting around touting his own strength — lets them feel strong and powerful in exactly the way that Bush and Cheney’s swaggering let conservatives prance around as tough-guy, play-acting warriors. Rather than ignore this aggression, Democratic think tanks point with beaming pride to the corpses piled up by the Democratic Commander-in-Chief to argue that he’s been such a resounding foreign policy “success,” while Democratic pundits celebrate and defend the political value of his majestic kills.

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Most Democratic praise for “Obama’s foreign policy successes” fails even to acknowledge, let alone condemn, the thousands of innocent people whose lives have been extinguished by his militarism.

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That, without a doubt, will be one of Obama’s most enduring legacies: transforming these policies of excessive militarism, rampant secrecy and civil liberties assaults from right-wing radicalism into robust bipartisan consensus.

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Bush, Cheney and scores of other political and media supporters of their militarism who had not served in the military were routinely derided by Democrats and progressives as “chickenhawks” [...]. What happened to that? Now we have a President whom  [Peter Bergen, the Director of National Security Studies at the Democratic-Party-supportive New America Foundation] hails as “one of the most militarily aggressive American leaders in decades” despite having not served a day in the military, and hordes of non-military-serving Democrats who cheer him as he does so. Similarly, George Bush was mercilessly mocked for declaring himself a “war President,” yet here is Bergen — writing under the headline “Warrior in Chief” —  twice christening the non-serving Obama as our “Warrior President.” Did the concept of chickenhawkism, like so many other ostensible political beliefs, cease to exist on January 20, 2009?

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According to CNN today, “a suspected U.S. drone strike killed three people Sunday at a high school in northern Pakistan.” The article cites “intelligence officials” as claiming that “militants were hiding” at the school. There is apparently no information yet on who was killed, though I hope — and trust – that this won’t impede the celebrations over our “Warrior in Chief.”

  Glenn Greenwald