Some things are only gutsy when a weenie does them

John Hinderaker, in writing about the kvelling the media has engaged in regarding Obama’s “gutsiness” when he ordered the bin Laden hit, nails something —  the shrieking reveals that, despite the media’s slavish devotion to the man, in their own (white, racist) minds, they’ve been holding him to the lowest standards, and are therefore mightily surprised that he’s exceeded those minimal expectations:

All of this praise is due to the fact that Obama approved, rather than nixing, the killing of bin Laden. A good decision, to be sure. But is there a single person, anywhere, who doubts that George W. Bush would have made the same call? Or John McCain, if he had won in 2008? Of course not. The Democrats’ jubilation results from the fact that their guy didn’t wilt under pressure, but rather lived up to the standard that George W. Bush and John McCain easily met. For this, he is called “courageous” and “gutsy.”

One wonders: if killing bin Laden was a courageous, gutsy decision by Barack Obama, where were the liberals when President Bush approved the killing of Zarqawi? Do you remember any of them praising that decision as courageous and “game changing?” No, neither do I. Or how about the apprehension of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? How many congratulations did that skillfully-executed operation draw from the Left? And how about Bush’s decision to topple, and then capture, Saddam Hussein, one of America’s bitterest enemies, whose forces tried to shoot down American airplanes and who attempted to assassinate a former American President? Was that a courageous and gutsy decision? We all know the answer to that question.

Read the whole thing here, including some examples of the media’s more fulsome praise.