Watching the coverage of President Obama’s speech about the killing of Osama bin Laden, I find myself in agreement with various friends (on Facebook and elsewhere) who have expressed uneasiness with the crowing over this development.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m uneasy with the celebration of an assassination, leery of reprisals, and put off by the tackiness of citizens singing \u201cWe Are the Champions\u201d in response to a bloody shootout.<\/p>\n

I thought Obama’s speech <\/a>framed the killing with great care and sobriety. I think what we saw in Obama’s speech was the President taking personal responsibility\u2014and, yes, credit\u2014for bin Laden’s death. It was the statement of a President who understood what he had done and why.<\/p>\n

Some have pointed out that yesterday was the anniversary of George W. Bush’s infamous speech on the aircraft carrier in front of the unfortunately premature “Mission Accomplished” banner.<\/p>\n

I think an even more interesting contrast, however, is with this clip of Bush talking about bin Laden just six months after 9\/11:<\/p>\n