More power to Obama

WASHINGTON (AP):

As a candidate, Barack Obama pledged "we will kill bin Laden" by striking in Pakistan, if necessary, without that country's consent.

He drew intense criticism from all corners, even from Joe Biden, the Delaware senator who became his vice-president, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, his chief rival for the Democratic nomination who is serving as his secretary of state. But Obama didn't waver. And as president, he delivered.

Now, in the early days of his re-election campaign, Obama is in a clear position of political strength as Americans finally are able to savor the death of the man responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks. Republicans who have long and successfully painted Democrats as weak on national security face a far tougher task in making that case against a triumphant Democratic incumbent.