Biden: Obama would have been "one-term president" if bin Laden mission had failed

Vice President Joe Biden.

/ CBS News

If the U.S. forces who took out Osama bin Laden in his Pakistan compound last May had failed, President Obama would likely have been a "one-term president," his vice president, Joe Biden, told donors Monday night.

The vice president, speaking at a fundraiser hosted by Senator John Kerry and his wife at their tony Washington home, praised the president for his "backbone" - and for pressing ahead with a risky mission to take down bin Laden even while "his presidency was on the line."

"This guy's got a backbone like a ramrod," Biden said, of Mr. Obama's decision, according to a White House pool report. "He said, 'Go,' knowing his presidency was on the line. Had he failed in that audacious mission, he would've been a one-term president."

Osama bin Laden was killed almost a year ago after Mr. Obama approved a top-secret raid, carried out by an elite team of United States Navy SEALs, at a highly fortified compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where bin Laden, mastermind of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, had been living.

At the event, a private fundraiser for Mr. Obama's re-election campaign which cost a minimum of $10,000 per couple, Biden lauded the president for what he cast as a series of accomplishments in his first term.

"Osama bin Laden is dead. General Motors is alive," Biden said. "This guy's the real deal. He may say it differently than some of you are used to hearing, but this guy's the real deal... and his policies are working."

Biden thanked the guests for their donations, which he cited as crucial for the president's re-election efforts.

"We're not going to be able to compete in terms of the super PAC money," he said. "The truth of the matter is we can't match it."

He argued that fundraising the "old-fashioned" way would combat what he anticipates as a "barrage of negative ads that will inundate the airwaves that you have never ever seen in any of your careers."

[wildemanne]

YES THIS IS A REAL PRESIDENT, UNLIKE THE UNKNOWING, AND THE OVERWEIGHT, OF THE PREVIOUS PRESIDENCY, DIDN'T DESERT THE CAPTURED BIN LADEN IN THE MOUNTAINS, TO GO LOOKING FOR FANTASY WMD'S in other parts of the mid-east! Found and executed, like a real American president should. now we have to deal with a self profiteering congress who all are cowards to do the right thing for Americans!

[billybreathe5]

Eh, I'll vote for the Good Doctor in November either way.

[ewcollins]

This once again made me think of Obama lin Biden.

[UsedToBeDem]

Yep and they are going to do a film about how great BO was with making this no brainer decision right before the election. They will capitalize on anything to get votes. He fooled us once in 2008 - shame on Him. If we allow him to fool us again in 2012 then shame on us. He is merely a community organizer - following the Saul Alinsky play book of telling each group what they want to hear, get the vote and the power and then rule by enacting Socialism and Communism. Please Democrats - see what has happened to this party and take your party back. The radicals have taken it over and are trashing all that has made America Great. Be aware of not only what they say but what they do under the disguise of "Fairness". Hitler came to power this way also - Wake up!!!

[dogsoldier12]

I am a firm independent and I look at this as a truthful comment by Biden. What he said is that Obama would have been less likely to serve a 2nd term had the Osama assault gone bad. This wasn't a political statement. He was simply stating the obvious. Making the right call to send a strike team after Osama is a feather in his cap. I don't think that one thing makes him a shoe in or more qualified to lead a 2nd term. He just simply made a good call and that is it. Stop trying to turn this into a battle of ifs and what ifs. Pretty simple guys lets think as adults.

[TerryS1948]

Obama did not get Bin Laden. The Navy Seals, with the help of the intelligence community got him. If Bozo the Clown had been President, the outcome would be the same...a dead Bin Laden. Obama was not courageous, the Navy seals were. Only a fool would give Obozo the credit.

[iwikler]

So, Joe thinks his boss would not deserve to be re-elected had the Bin Laden mission failed.
That sure is a dumb thing to say. Like Obama earned his right to run for a second term only because of a couple of good shots by Navy SEAL.
Yes, Joe Biden says foolish things.
Thank God Obama is the president.

[hbevis]

You had better be saying please God not another for obama.

[involved_indi]

another feeble attempt by the dim-witted Biden to change the topic off the economy, jobs & the spiriling out-of-control national debt.