He didn’t bring up Bin Laden himself — an audience member did — but we’re going to be hearing about OBL on the trail from now until election day so we might as well get used to it. And honestly, I don’t begrudge him that. Notwithstanding the fact that any Republican president, McCain included, would have also ordered the raid (Bush twice sent commandos into Pakistan after jihadis), the fact remains that it’s a major feather in his cap and he needs to display those feathers to get reelected. Granted, the left would throw a screaming fit if a Republican president did the same thing, but that’s just how they roll. Most of them are ridiculous frauds whose standards of behavior turn entirely on the party identification of the president. If there’s any single lesson to be gleaned from the first two-plus years of O’s presidency vis-a-vis counterterrorism, it’s that.

Besides, this sort of thing is self-regulating. If he goes too far in spiking the ball over Bin Laden, using his corpse as a de facto campaign prop, it’ll alienate the public and his polls will drop. Remember, almost two-thirds agree with the decision not to show the death photos. People don’t want this being used as a trophy. If he starts treating it too much as a naked applause line, he’s risking a backlash. Click the image to watch.