It is a sad day in America when neither party can agree on how to treat the destruction of the greatest enemy of the nation, Osama bin Laden. It is the equivalent of the nation bickering over who could mention and not mention the demise of Hitler, Saddam Hussein or the Japanese military in WWII.

Currently, we have two parties in America arguing over whether or not Osama bin Laden’s death and the decisions that were made leading up to it should be talked about during the 2012 election cycle.

The hypocrisy of the entire situation is that both parties are trying to “decide” what the other can talk about when they are running for office. The nation couldn’t speak about 9/11, Bush was a warlord when he spoke about the war on terror, the execution of Saddam Hussein was quickly brushed under the rug, and now Osama bin Laden’s death can’t be spoken about.

The strange thing is that the role of commander in chief is the most important role filled by the president of the United States; yet, in the past decade the major triumphs of Bush and Obama —  the toppling of Hussein and bin Laden — are not allowed to be discussed in their proper context.

Now, I will agree that the president should not be taking full credit for the execution of Osama bin Laden while conveniently forgetting to mention the Navy Seals that actually pulled off the act of valor. However, the fact that the president of the United States made the decision to kill Enemy No. 1 of the USA should be a topic that can be mentioned and even debated during the course of the election for president.

The fact that the Republicans are upset that Obama actually was able to kill bin Laden does not take away from the fact that he was the leader of the military at the time of Osama’s death and, therefore, deserves some of the credit. Washington won the Revolutionary War, right?

The problem in America is that every issue and topic is now looked at politically instead of, as in the case of Osama’s death, militarily. It should be an issue that every American applauds the president, his staff and the brave men and women of the armed forces for achieving.

The Republicans would do well to actually present a plan to the American people that would deliver a better America than to continually run against everything President Obama has ever said and done. John Kerry tried that against George W Bush, and it didn’t work.

The last bite…

Last night, I had dinner at Houston’s on St. Charles Avenue and decided to try an oyster appetizer called Oysters St Charles. To say that this dish was amazing would be an understatement. It was a plump, fresh oyster fried to perfection, sprinkled with hot sauce, and topped with a dollop of aioli sauce. Then the oyster was placed on a bed of creamy spinach dip and served in an individual oyster shell. I give a Louisiana oyster topped with hot sauce 5 out of 5 crumbs!

Buddy Boe, a resident of Garyville, owns a public relations and program management company and is well known on the local political (and food) scenes. His column appears Wednesdays in L’Observateur.