After announcing the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden late Sunday night, President Barack Obama, who has been increasingly flanked by criticism on many fronts, including his now-proven citizenship, had achieved a huge political victory.
It was perfect timing: Campaigns for the 2012 presidential race will soon begin, and the triumph might give Obama’s falling approval rate a turnaround.
Just last August, 55 percent approved the job Obama was doing as president, while only 38 percent disapproved, according to a Gallup poll based on telephone interviews with about 1,500 Americans.
Yet nine months later, toward the end of April, only 46 percent of polled persons said that they approved Obama’s job performance, while 45 percent disapproved.
These figures could be shuffled with the killing of bin Laden, at least in the short run.
Immediately after the capture of Saddam Hussein in December 2003 under the Bush administration, then-President George W. Bush had a 10-point surge in approval of his dealing with the war in Iraq.
However, Bush’s approval was short-lived: Americans started to forget about Hussein as the economy worsened.
With America only weeks away from hitting its debt ceiling, it is debatable how long Obama’s lift will last.
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