ANALYSIS - al-Awlaki Killing

"Shields, Brooks on al-Awlaki Killing, Florida's Primary Bid, Candidates' Styles" PBS Newshour Transcript 9/30/2011

Excerpt on al-Awlaki killing

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): So, the killing of the al-Qaida operative Anwar al-Awlaki, David, we heard a minute ago about the national security implications. Does this have political implications for President Obama? Does it help him?

DAVID BROOKS, New York Times columnist: It probably doesn't help him.

I think he deserves some recognition. I think the administration has pursued this quite vigorously. There was a lot of talk from Dick Cheney that it was Sept. 10 mind-set. Remember all that? But they clearly have a Sept. 11 mind-set, if you want to put that. They pursued this very vigorously.

And in some ways, with the use of drones, they have probably been more assertive or more aggressive than the Bush administration. But they will probably, politically, get relatively little benefit. It means that the Republicans will not be attacking the Obama administration as weak. Or at least I don't think will -- that argument will have much purchase.

But it won't be as if the country will say he is a really strong commander in chief. I think the issue will be neutralized. It won't redound to his benefit.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You agree?

MARK SHIELDS, syndicated columnist: I think, Judy, that voters already give him much higher marks as commander in chief than they do on his domestic leadership or his handling of the economy.

So there is a recognition on the part of voters how effective he has been, essentially, and his administration in dismantling al-Qaida and all but crippling that institution. The Republicans have had an historical advantage on the issue of national security. And I think it's fair to say that Barack Obama has gone a long way toward neutralizing that for the 2012 campaign.

I agree with David that that will not be some card that the Republicans will play. At the same time, when the economy is bad, the economy is the only issue. And that's the problem. I mean, that is going to be dominant. The elimination of al-Qaida doesn't lead to jobs.

JUDY WOODRUFF: All right, so they got bin Laden. They have now got Awlaki. They have gotten other al-Qaida leaders, the president, administration instrumental, David, in knocking off -- or removing, I should say, these dictators in Egypt and now Libya.

Is there anything they could do internationally that...

DAVID BROOKS: Well, I mean, I would say -- I would say a couple things.

First, the -- the Arab spring happened more or less on its own. I think that was a result of result of these deep fundamental courses that were set off by the democracy debates. The getting of Zarqawi -- the getting of bin Laden took real courage from president. So I give him a lot of credit on that individual decision.

But basically we now have set in place -- we have a lot of criticisms about the institutions of our government. But we have set in place a national security apparatus that takes al-Qaida extremely seriously and I would say goes after them quite effectively. And al-Qaida has been severely, severely dismantled over the past 10 years. And that's something that will probably survive whatever party takes over. That institution, the national security apparatus, I think is pretty effective, set up five, 10 years ago, but now continuing quite effectively.

MARK SHIELDS: Well, I mean, he got a lift out of Osama bin Laden. But it was ephemeral.

JUDY WOODRUFF: It didn't last long.