Gingrich Damns Obama With Faint Praise

I had wondered how former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who had been blasting President Obama up to Sunday morning over his response to the Somali pirate crisis, would respond to the successful rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips. Gingrich tweets his answer:

The navy seals did exactly thr right thing in rescuing the american captain President obama did the right thing in allowing the navy to act

Why the passive voice? The president didn’t “allow” the Navy to act.

Here’s how The Associated Press reported it:

The Defense Department twice asked Obama for permission to use military force to rescue Capt. Richard Phillips from a lifeboat off the Somali coast. Obama first gave permission around 8 p.m. Friday, and upgraded it at 9:20 a.m. Saturday … White House officials on Sunday said Obama received regular updates by phone and in person at the White House — including 11 memos — and during his daily intelligence briefings with senior officials.

It’s really quite strange for Gingrich to deny the commander-in-chief credit for a successful mission that he ordered.

In 1984, Gingrich led the ad hoc American Opportunity Foundation, formed to give President Ronald Reagan credit for the invasion and rescue mission in Grenada. From The Washington Post’s story on this, which ran on October 4, 1984:

Gingrich’s American Opportunity Foundation has produced an ad that pictures blindfolded American hostages in Iran and an American student from Grenada kissing U.S. soil last year. “On Oct. 25, 1984,” it says, “America will debate the difference between bondage and freedom.”

Gingrich said the events would be “a nonprofit, educational experience.” He said that each selected campus would “invite . . . liberal Democrats to come and explain why they thought Iran was a more appropriate model than Grenada.“

“If it does help the president’s campaign, it does,” said foundation director Maura Gavigan.

Obviously, the Grenada invasion was a much larger mission, with casualties, but Gingrich didn’t say that Reagan deserved credit for “allowing” the military to win there.

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