Schieffer Undermines Obama Campaign’s Anti-al-Qaeda Talking Point He Advanced

CBS’s Bob Schieffer on Thursday night used the 9/11 anniversary as a chance to chastise Presidents Bush and Obama for making declarations that the war on terrorism had been won, but two and a half years ago Schieffer himself championed the Obama administration’s campaign boast.

(Video shows Schieffer this year and in 2012)

“Two years after 9/11, George Bush stood beneath a huge sign declaring ‘Mission Accomplished,’ but, of course, it wasn't,” Schieffer declared on the CBS Evening News in misrepresenting the sign which only meant the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln had completed their mission.

CBS’s chief Washington correspondent proceeded: “Eight years later, the Obama administration declared Osama bin Laden dead and GM alive, as if the war on terror had been all but won, but, of course, it hasn’t.”

During the 2012 campaign, however, Schieffer forwarded that very same talking point [1]. Interviewing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on the February 26, 2012 Face the Nation, Schieffer wondered:

“How do you go after Barack Obama, though, right now? I mean, the stock market is up. It looks like the unemployment is going down. David Axelrod in his campaign said the other day Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive.”

Thursday night, Schieffer again saw virtue in Obama: “Last night the President seemed to acknowledge that, unlike the presidential rhetoric of years gone by, his speech did not have the feel of a quick fix. It recognized reality.”

Schieffer on the September 11 CBS Evening News. (Transcript courtesy of MRC news analyst Curtis Houck):

The ironies of what happened last night are inescapable. The President who came to office to bring the troops home telling us last night he is sending some Americans back to Iraq and expanding the war on terrorism into Syria and telling us on the eve of this day, the 13th anniversary of 9/11 and its horrific scenes burned forever into America's memory.

Two years after 9/11, George Bush stood beneath a huge sign declaring “Mission Accomplished,” but, of course, it wasn’t. Eight years later, the Obama administration declared Osama bin Laden dead and GM alive, as if the war on terror had been all but won, but, of course, it hasn’t.

The problem with wars is they’re never over until both sides say they are over. So whether you call it a war or not, last night the President seemed to acknowledge that, unlike the presidential rhetoric of years gone by, his speech did not have the feel of a quick fix. It recognized reality. War wary though the nation may be, the threat posed by ISIS is real. 9/11 could happen again and we can’t negotiate with these people. They must be destroyed, and it won’t be done in a day, but the President told us last night it must be done.