We are Americans first and it's still the economy, stupid

Don’t go closing those PACs and exploratory committees quite so fast, Republican candidates. Yes, President Obama did good and he will get a bounce in the polls for it. But we are still 18 months away from the election. Rush Limbaugh said it best today. “You can’t put Osama Bin Laden in your gas tank.” It will continue to be the economy, especially as the buzz wears off  between now and the election.

As I wrote on my Townhall blog:

Liberals fiercely attacked George W. Bush for his aggressive military and intelligence policies, turning on him and the best interests of the country after 9/11 when the world needed to see a united front from us. Liberalism gave us anti-war protests and anti-nuke protests which have hampered every president since Lyndon Johnson from effectively conducting foreign policy and trying to defeat enemies whose morale is easily boosted from watching images of Americans tearing down their own on TV.

These people have proven themselves to be doves and pacifists of convenience. When they were able to defeat the conservative movement and finally elect a true liberal, suddenly the protests stopped despite a ramping up of military efforts in Afghanistan, aggressive military operations in areas where piracy is an issue, a military assault on Libya and now the attacks within the sovereign borders of Pakistan with predator drones and Special Forces. They really were never anti-war. They were just anti-conservative.

When “their guy” used the type of military force that they were once so quick to rally around flag burning ceremonies to decry when a Republican was in office, their protégés – the liberal students of today – poured out into the street in front of the White House to suddenly become these great flag waving patriots celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden. For a moment in time, these students got to feel the pride and thrill of what conservatives feel every day whether in power or out. But, put a Republican in the White House and watch these liberals flip back to being angry protestors that call out American imperialism.

For conservatives, it’s about our country regardless of who happens to occupy the White House at the time. Conservatives don’t wave the flag when it’s convenient and burn it when it’s not. When we feel that pride and get that thrill of watching our country use its might to bring an evil enemy to justice, we are not going to destroy our intellectual honesty by toning down our feelings because “their guy” happens to be in the White House. We won World War II under a Democratic president, remember?

The Democrats didn’t win World War II. The Republicans didn’t win the Cold War. The Democrats didn’t kill Osama bin Laden. America did. We, all of us – including the commie pinko flag burners turned flag wavers – reveled in bin Laden’s death. Only conservatives didn’t have to change stripes to do it. America is not an exceptional nation whose collective heart swells with pride only when a liberal leads us to victory. It is exceptional all the time.

Rush Limbaugh explains how, despite his liberal ways, Obama was able to pull off the Bin Laden operation:

George W. Bush got the biggest bump after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with a 35 percent increase that lasted for two years. Franklin D. Roosevelt got an 11 percent increase for nearly a year after Pearl Harbor. And George H.W. Bush received a 23 percent increase for about 10 months after the Gulf War began.

Bill Clinton went on to defeat Bush in 1992 with the famous campaign slogan, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

Republicans say it’ll be the economy again that dominates the election.

Doug Heye, a former spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said that while the nation is focused on the still-emerging details about the death of Bin Laden, economic pain lingers.

We applaud President Obama for making the decision to raid the compound and kill Bin Laden. But at the end of the day, the 2012 election will rest on the economy.

Why Bin Laden’s Death May Benefit the Republicans in 2012

Does the Death of bin Laden Really Change Anything?

After Bin Laden’s Death, How Can Republicans Run Against Obama?

OBL’s Death a Victory for the Adults

Read more at Patrick’s World USA