LAT: Obama's poker face was sorely tested

[TeamJordan23]

Obama's poker face was sorely tested

In the 72 hours before Osama bin Laden's death was announced, the president balanced public events with a series of private military briefings. Nothing leaked.

Reporting from Washington—
Standing before a roomful of Hollywood celebrities, journalists and politicians, comedian Seth Meyers quipped that Osama bin Laden was hiding in plain sight by hosting an obscure C-SPAN show that no one ever watched.

One person at the White House Correspondents' Assn. dinner who clearly enjoyed the joke was President Obama.

Obama, dressed in a tuxedo, smiled broadly on Saturday night, in possession of a closely guarded secret. He knew where Bin Laden was living and he had already signed his death warrant, ordering a risky raid that would kill the world's most wanted terrorist the following day.

All presidents keep secrets, but over a 72-hour span leading to Bin Laden's death, Obama's capacity to keep a poker face was tested as never before.

He gave a commencement speech in Miami and golfed with aides in Maryland. He met with victims of deadly storms in Alabama and delivered zingers at the correspondents' dinner in Washington.

Through it all he got a steady series of private briefings on the military mission. Nothing leaked. Obama announced the successful outcome of the raid with a dramatic flourish late Sunday night, in a nationally televised East Room address that even some veteran White House aides were unaware was coming.

Bin Laden's killing stands as Obama's biggest triumph as commander in chief, a role he has struggled with. The war in Afghanistan is deeply unpopular, while the one in Libya is stalemated. Whatever else happens, though, history will show Obama was the president who felled Bin Laden.

Continue Reading: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bin-laden-obama-20110503,0,6668629.story

[tularetom]

1. He's a very cool customer

And he gets the point that you don't have to talk like a fucking fake cowboy to be a successful commander in chief.

[Ron Green]

6. A-men. As a fifth-generation Texan, I was always scornful of that phony

act from a pissant fratboy.

[fishwax]

2. FOK News had a screen cap of his reaction to that line

[Thrill]

3. "a role he has struggled with"

huh?

[FrenchieCat]

4. You know.......the poor wimpy guy!

:eyes:

[BlueCaliDem]

5. L.A. Times is as rightwing as the Daily Bulletin and San Gabriel Valley Trib, here

They were part of the problem, helping to blame recalled Gov. Gray Davis for the 2001 manipulated energy crisis and rolling blackouts, and what helped get Schwarzenegger into the Governor's mansion with a song and a kiss.