It takes a lot for a man to keep a straight face when he’s bluffing at poker, when people are constantly harassing and questioning every word, every decision you make. It takes even more for a man to keep a poker face when he’s hosting a correspondence dinner, when he has to keep a straight face hearing a joke about Osama Bin Laden, America’s Public Enemy #1, knowing that at that very moment, he had authorized a covert military operation to possibly capture or kill the mastermind behind the most destructive attack on American soil, which prompted two wars costing thousands of lives and trillions of dollars.

But only a few days previous to this dinner, Barack Obama also released his birth certificate, putting to rest the long-standing question about his citizenship. Besides Donald Trump and other GOP candidates, who no longer can use this conspiracy theory to rally support, the only ones upset by this are comedians who no longer can satirize the right for claiming that Obama is a Kenyan Islamo–Fascist who is trying to destroy this country from the inside (to clarify, he’s as American as anyone can be).

Which brings us to a moot point: Why are people now trying to either deflect the praise or tear down the decisive move by President Obama to assassinate bin Laden? What is the motivation for these people who have switched from the “Birther” B.S. to the equally far-fetched “Deather” conspiracy theory: that Osama bin Laden isn’t really dead, that Obama performed an illegal assassination, or that George W. Bush deserves the credit for Osama’s death rather than our current Commander-in-Chief.

Barack Obama more than deserves the credit for bringing in Osama Bin Laden. As the Commander-in-Chief, it was his call to put the operation into action;  it would have been on his head if it turned into another “Blackhawk Down” crisis. As the Commander-in-Chief, he is the supreme commander of all branches of the military.  This means that if the Navy SEALs who carried out the mission deserve credit, which of course they do (and no opposition to that has arisen), then that credit goes up the chain of command to President Obama.

With regards to the former President Bush issue, the Bush Administration gave up on the opportunity eight years ago to capture Osama Bin Laden when they had him cornered in northern Afghanistan. Rather than continuing the push, and flushing the mastermind behind 9/11 out, the Bush Administration decided to leave the critical operation in the hands of the Northern Alliance, the Afghani warlords, and withdrew troops in lieu of the invasion of Iraq. President Bush gave up the opportunity to capture Osama Bin Laden, and let him get away; President Obama did not.

President Obama has acted in a Clint Eastwood-esque manner these last couple of weeks. He wrassled in the biggest monster of our age, and has laid to rest the doubts about his citizenship. He has acted in a decisive manner, while facing more road blocks and angry opposition than any president in modern history. President Bush certainly didn’t have a Tea-bagger movement created in response to him, neither did President Clinton for that matter.

The defense rests.