NBC's Williams In Awe of Obama's 'Even Keel' During Bin Laden Killing
Interviewing President Obama about the killing of Osama Bin Laden on Wednesday's NBC Rock Center, Nightly News anchor Brian Williams couldn't resist gushing over the level-headed comm
ander-in-chief: "How do you keep an even keel? Even when we look back on the videotape of that night, there's no real depiction that there's something afoot."
Williams was referring to the President attending the White House
Correspondents' Dinner as the mission to kill Bin Laden was underway,
having to "laugh it up" and "live a little bit of a lie for the public
good." Obama explained: "You know, that was a little bit of acting going
on there, because my mind was elsewhere."
Continuing
to fawn over the administration keeping the mission secret, Williams
put these hard-hitting questions to the White House national security
team: "Nothing, including the provisions for the Situation Room, was
left to chance. Is it true you ate Costco food, as to not draw any
attention? And multiple pizzerias were contacted as to prevent any one
large order from drawing attention to the gathering?...can you confirm
those food details?"
Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough replied: "As a big fan
of Costco, I can confirm that we did eat Costco that night. Frankly,
throughout the day."
Williams opened the hour-long Obama infomercial by excitedly touting it
as an historic exclusive: "...we are about to take television news
cameras inside the White House Situation Room for the first time in its
history. We're here tonight entering this room to talk about this
photograph, taken in this room a year ago. And the decisions and the
military action that resulted in the death of Osama Bin Laden."
Burnishing the weight of Obama's decision to launch the operation,
Williams referenced the failed attempt by Jimmy Carter to rescue
American hostages from Iran in 1980: "If this had failed in spectacular
fashion, it would have blown up your presidency, I think, by all
estimates. It would have been your Waterloo and perhaps your Watergate,
consumed with hearings and inquiries. How thick did the specter of Jimmy
Carter, Desert One hang in the air here?"
Obama used the opportunity to deny such political considerations:
You know, I thought of it. But I will tell you that there are moments in your presidency where you really do put politics aside. Certainly we thought about the fact that if there was a failure here, it would have disastrous consequences for me politically. We knew the examples of the Carter presidency and we understood what happened there. But I tell you, the only thing that I was thinking about throughout this entire enterprise was, I really want to get those guys back home safe.
The closest Williams came to a challenging question about failures in Obama's broader foreign policy laid blame on the military, not on the President: "You got him [Bin Laden], but what did it get you? What did it get us? Are we demonstrably safer? We've had setbacks vis a vis our military, with desecration, with the burning of the Koran, unforced errors what's the net effect and result now that you have a year's clarity behind you?"
Here are portions of the May 2 broadcast:
(...)
9:18PM ET
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Keeping this secret also meant going on about the
business of the presidency. Touring that awful storm damage in Alabama
while knowing at that very moment U.S. Navy SEALs were already on the
move halfway around the world. You had to go to Tuscaloosa.
BARACK OBAMA: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: You had to go have fun at the Correspondents' Dinner. Seth Meyers makes a joke about Osama Bin Laden.
SETH MEYERS: People think Bin Laden is hiding in the Hindu Kush, but
did you know that everyday from 4 to 5 he hosts a show on C-SPAN?
WILLIAMS:
How do you keep an even keel? Even when we look back on the videotape
of that night, there's no real depiction that there's something afoot.
OBAMA: You know, when I go down to Tuscaloosa, I'm very much present
there. Because the tragedy and the devastation that had happened to the
folks there, I think, consumed all my attention. So that wasn't
difficult to – to focus on. You know, the Correspondents' Dinner was a
different story. You know, that was a little bit of acting going on
there, because my mind was elsewhere.
MIKE MULLEN [FMR. CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF]: I ran into many
friends and acquaintances that night who subsequently remarked after the
fact that pretty good poker player. He didn't give anything up.
TOM DONILON [NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR]: We didn't want to have any
sense anywhere that something was up. That we had any sort of mass
cancellations with respect to the dinner. I did run into one
correspondent who said you're leaving – you're leaving early. Where are
you going? You know, and I said I got this thing tomorrow.
WILLIAMS: I can't remember if you went to that Correspondents' Dinner.
But here's the President going to Tuscaloosa, Correspondents' Dinner.
You have to laugh it up. You've got to live a little bit of a lie for
the public good.
HILLARY CLINTON: Well, that's exactly true. I did not go. I had – one
of Chelsea's friends got married. I went to the wedding. I went to the
reception. I was at the reception and it was so ironic. All these smart,
young people who work in all kinds of enterprises. One of them came up
and said do you think we'll ever get Bin Laden? I said I don't know. I
have no way of knowing, but I can tell you this. We'll keep trying. I
thought, and so I'm leaving now.
WILLIAMS: And simultaneously Seth Meyers at the Hilton is making a Bin Laden joke.
CLINTON: I know it. And I – really, I got home. I couldn't sleep. I
couldn't sleep the next night. I mean, it was – and I don't have trouble
sleeping. But those were two tough days.
(...)
9:25PM ET
WILLIAMS: On Sunday morning, May 1st of last year, at 11 a.m., members
of the national security team started arriving in the Situation Room for
what they knew would be a long haul. The Navy SEALs were waiting for
night fall to launch the attack and everyone knew a mistake at this
stage of the game would mean scrubbing the mission. And so nothing,
including the provisions for the Situation Room, was left to chance.
Is it true you ate Costco food, as to not draw any attention? And
multiple pizzerias were contacted as to prevent any one large order from
drawing attention to the gathering? Mr. McDonough, can you confirm
those food details?
DENIS MCDONOUGH [DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR]: As a big fan of
Costco, I can confirm that we did eat Costco that night. Frankly,
throughout the day.
DONILON: Did we declassify that?
MCDONOUGH: We did not. It's a good question. It's a good question, boss.
WILLIAMS: The President played golf that morning. Nine holes on the
grounds of nearby Andrews Air Force Base. Back at the White House at 2
p.m., he headed downstairs to join the others in the Situation Room.
This
is the lower hallway, the part nobody gets to see of the house where
you get to live and work. And you have – you have worn a path to the
Situation Room. I saw these. This is unbelievable. These are the...
OBAMA: These are the photos.
WILLIAMS: This is the drama of...
OBAMA: As it was unfolding.
WILLIAMS: ...of that night. All of the different scenes and vignettes. I
mean, when you see it now, I would imagine that was as tight as things
ever get in this building.
OBAMA: It was tense. It was a tough, tough night. But I tell you,
everybody operated just the way you'd hope they operated. So we're going
in the Situation Room.
WILLIAMS: So they open it for you?
OBAMA: Once in awhile.
WILLIAMS: Upon entering the Situation Room, everyone has to surrender
their electronics. They're placed in a metal-lined wooden box that was
once a cigar humidor. It's a bright but sparse series of rooms with low
ceilings and suede covered walls for sound insulation. And in every
room, digital clocks read out the time zones including the President's
location at any given moment.
(...)
9:38PM ET
WILLIAMS: For at least one elder statesman in that picture that day,
this mission dredged up an awful but always present reminder of Desert
One, the failed attempt to rescue the Iranian hostages back in 1980,
when 8 U.S. special operators were killed.
MULLEN: Bob gates, who in that photo was off to my left. Bob Gates had
been in that same room when Desert One happened. And so my first glance
was at him.
WILLIAMS: If this had failed in spectacular fashion, it would have
blown up your presidency, I think, by all estimates. It would have been
your Waterloo and perhaps your Watergate, consumed with hearings and
inquiries. How thick did the specter of Jimmy Carter, Desert One hang in
the air here?
OBAMA: You know, I thought of it. But I will tell you that there are
moments in your presidency where you really do put politics aside.
Certainly we thought about the fact that if there was a failure here, it
would have disastrous consequences for me politically. We knew the
examples of the Carter presidency and we understood what happened there.
But I tell you, the only thing that I was thinking about throughout
this entire enterprise was, I really want to get those guys back home
safe.
(...)
9:55PM ET
WILLIAMS: You got him, but what did it get you? What did it get us? Are
we demonstrably safer? We've had setbacks vis a vis our military, with
desecration, with the burning of the Koran, unforced errors what's the
net effect and result now that you have a year's clarity behind you?
OBAMA: Even before we got Bin Laden, we had Al Qaeda on its heels. And
by getting Bin Laden, we capped off that two-year campaign. That was
important. That makes us safer. Did it completely diminish all risk of
terrorism? Absolutely not. But all told, a year later, are we better
off? Are we safer because we got Bin Laden? Absolutely.
(...)
-- Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Kyle Drennen on Twitter.
