First things first. I want to give credit to President Barack Obama for making the risky decision of sending in special forces troops to definitively kill Osama bin Laden and recover his body to prove that we actually got the bastard. The easy thing to do would’ve been to turn that compound to rubble using precision-guided munitions, but we’d never have been sure then that he hadn’t somehow escaped again.

He made the right call, and he should get credit for it.

But…

(You knew this was coming.)

Like author and former Pulitzer-Prize winning Washington Post movie critic Stephen Hunter, I found Obama’s lack of humility in his speech to be distasteful.

Then there were his tasteless claims of personal leadership, his over-emphasis on "I" and "at my direction." Clearly, all he did was sign off on initiatives other, better men had originated. He was ungenerous to Bush, who had to deal with this thing in real time under more pressure any president has faced since Pearl Harbor and wasn't helped by the treachery of the democratic party, as exemplified by then Senator Obama. Clearly, we staged from Afghanistan. We were able to stage from Afghanistan because of Bush and the intel that led to the kill was just as obviously developed over years of effort, begun by Bush.

As more and more reporting has been done, it’s becoming clear that Obama only had the opportunity to order the assassination of bin Laden because of intelligence gathered through interrogations at CIA black sites, Guantanamo Bay and waterboarding. Yesterday would not have happened had President Obama’s interrogation restrictions been in place throughout the Bush administration.

Finally, there’s the hypocrisy of the American left.

Nancy Pelosi:

Nancy Pelosi, press conference, September 7, 2006:

[E]ven if [Osama bin Laden] is caught tomorrow, it is five years too late. He has done more damage the longer he has been out there. But, in fact, the damage that he has done ... is done. And even to capture him now I don't think makes us any safer.

Nancy Pelosi, earlier today:

The death of Osama bin Laden marks the most significant development in our fight against al-Qaida. ... I salute President Obama, his national security team, Director Panetta, our men and women in the intelligence community and military, and other nations who supported this effort for their leadership in achieving this major accomplishment. ... [T]he death of Osama bin Laden is historic....

The guys that killed bin Laden were part of the Joint Special Operations Command. Today they’re praised, but when George W. Bush was in the White House, the New Yorker magazine, Keith Olbermann, and Stephen Colbert all tarred these guys as part of Vice President Dick Cheney’s “secret assassination squad.” That was then, this is now.