Judo'd

That sneaky bastard! I’m onto him.

President Obama is not releasing the bin Laden death pictures. It has nothing to do with sensitivity to the Muslim world or not “spiking the football;” I know because he’s done nothing but “spike the football” since. It’s gotten to the point of the fawning New York times editorial board debating whether or not he’s being too political with the issue. (found here) I get that the pictures show brain matter spilling over his right eye, (Well done, SEALs.) but this has nothing to do with a sensitivity the graphic nature of the images; I know because the White House continues to trot Jay Carney out in front of the press pool.

It’s about being the puppet master of the national narrative.

On April 27, President Obama released his long-form birth certificate.

On May 1, Osama bin Laden was assassinated.

The plan to assassinate bin Laden began in March.

The arithmetic isn’t complicated. When President Obama released his birth certificate, he knew he was going to get a tremendous surge of goodwill by killing Osama bin Laden. When he did offer his birth certificate, we all asked “why now?” Here’s our answer. Unsurprisingly, it had nothing to do with Donald Trump.

President Obama learned well from the birther narrative. He learned that having a conspiratorial opposition was politically advantageous. Ordinary Americans don’t like associating with conspiracy theorists. They’re creepy and generally don’t shower. That’s why he didn’t release his long-form birth certificate earlier; he liked that elements of the right looked a little unhinged. As the conspiracy over his birth certificate reached a fever pitch, he gave all the evidence he could that it was all bunk. All reasonable parties were convinced. He then shifted his attention to cultivating the bin Laden conspiracy. To date, the White House’s narrative on bin Laden has been “he’s dead; just trust us.” He might as well be asking a child to not touch the big red button that says “do not press.”

But this wasn’t about swapping one conspiracy for another; this was about shifting the conspiracy from one that highlights his greatest political weakness (his inability to access the American narrative and connect with ordinary people) to one that highlights the strongest moment of his presidency (the raid on bin Laden’s compound). Now, instead of birthers reminding everyone that there’s just something off about Obama, we have a chorus of conservatives—most of whom have no real doubt that bin Laden is actually dead—calling for the pictures of dead bin Laden. Day and night, dominating cable news. With every demand, American voters are reminded that this is the president that got bin Laden.

This has stretched the story for at least an extra two weeks. It will continue to stretch the story into campaign season. Yes, we’re getting politically judo’d.

You sneaky bastard.