All the presidency's a stage

By J.C. Arenas

The White House handling of the OBL operation aftermath raises far too many questions about the uses and abuses of propaganda. The president's Sunday night address to the nation included staged photos, enabling photographers to get a picture of the president without revealing the presence of his teleprompter. This involved the president pretending to speak to the nation, after the actual speech was over, to create an illusion.

Then there is the staged dramatic photo of the Situation Room. The Telegraph reported:

Leon Panetta, director of the CIA, revealed there was a 25 minute blackout during which the live feed from cameras mounted on the helmets of the US special forces was cut off.

A photograph released by the White House appeared to show the President and his aides in the situation room watching the action as it unfolded. In fact they had little knowledge of what was happening in the compound.

In an interview with PBS, Mr Panetta said: "Once those teams went into the compound I can tell you that there was a time period of almost 20 or 25 minutes where we really didn't know just exactly what was going on. And there were some very tense moments as we were waiting for information.

"We had some observation of the approach there, but we did not have direct flow of information as to the actual conduct of the operation itself as they were going through the compound."

These incidents represent hardly the first time in the Obama presidency we've seen a staged event; Henrietta Hughes, the white coats for all the "doctors" at the health care event, the "surprise visit" to Camp Victory, etc.

This also wouldn't be the first time Obama was given credit for leadership when it should have been attributed to the NAVY Seals, remember the Somali pirate rescue?