Obama or Bush: Assigning credit after bin Laden's death
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But does George W. Bush, Obama's Republican predecessor, deserve some political credit, too?
As with lots of things in a sharply divided Congress, the answer is tinged with partisanship.
Less than 25% of Republicans in the U.S. House who have issued a news release about bin Laden's death commended Obama, while less than 3% of Democrats in the House gave a nod to Bush for setting things in motion after the 9/11 attacks, according to an analysis out today from the University of Minnesota's Smart Politics blog.
"Members of Congress were not united in the thanks and praise they gave for the landmark successful mission against the FBI's No. 1 most wanted terrorist," Smart Politics said.
In its unique analysis, Smart Politics studied the press releases and statements made by House members since Obama's announcement Sunday night that bin Laden was dead. It found that 87% of House members issued a press release on their official websites or made a statement about bin Laden via Facebook or Twitter.
Some findings:
- 60% of Democrats credited Obama or thanked him for his leadership, compared with 24% of Republicans who did the same.
- GOP House members were more likely to split the political credit between Obama and Bush.
- Twenty percent of Republicans mentioned Bush in their statements, compared with 2.5% of Democrats who did.
See photos of: George W. Bush, Barack Obama
