3am phone call moment - when he put to bed the questions about his foreign policy credentials once and for all.
It is a huge triumph and a massive personal boost for
the President
.
It is a real coup for his presidency even in the way the mission played out. It was high risk, but crucially, there were no American casualties.
There were real questions over his leadership on foreign policy issues in light of events in Libya and Afghanistan.
After this nobody can ask those questions now - and nobody will be able to ask them during the election, even if it will likely revolve much more around economic issues.
I’d expect him to rise 10-15 points in the polls after this - and you can be sure the pollsters are out polling.
Even the way he delivered the speech was impressive - there was no triumphalism, he was very straightforward, very matter of fact.
He made it clear the US was not taking on the Muslim world. There was no ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner - or the ‘Dead or Alive’ nonsense ex-President Bush came out with.
From a personal perspective, the mood of New Yorkers is one of great happiness - mixed with a sense of relief. that a person who perpetrated such a dreadful atrocity no longer walks the earth.
He killed thousands of innocent people - and the horrific event led to some terrible policies in response. It was a dreadful moment in world history.
So when I first heard that there was to be a Sunday evening statement, I knew it was Bin Laden.
There just was nothing bigger that it could have been.
Watching the announcement I had tears in my eyes.
I remembered the horrible day, the fear we felt watching the news, I remembered all the people I knew who were killed, all the friends who were lost.
It is definitely a very emotional moment for anybody who lived in New York through 9/11.
For New Yorkers, he came to symbolise all that was evil in the world.
Today there is a real sense of closure, but more than that, a real sense of justice.
Bin Laden is gone, the world is a better place.
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Read more:
Read more: Obama’s Irish advisers were key to Bin Laden plan
Read more: Bin Laden death brings justice to still grieving Irish families -- Closure for those who lost loved ones on 9/11
Read more: Bin Laden shot through left eye, DNA matched sister's brain tissues - buried in Arabian Sea
Read more: Obama answers the 3.a.m phone call and may have won the White House again
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