An article in the Daily Mail quotes a former Navy SEAL Team Six member–currently serving as a Republican State legislator from Montana–as having problems with the President’s re-election campaign.

Ryan Zinke, a former Commander in the U.S. Navy, doesn’t like the fact that President Obama is using the success story of the midnight raid of Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan to get re-elected.

Zinke said, “The decision was a no brainer. I applaud him for making it but I would not overly pat myself on the back for making the right call… …I think every president would have done the same… …The President and his administration are positioning him as a war president using the SEALs as ammunition.”

Even prominent figures on the left, like Arianna Huffington, came down on the strategy to use the operation as a concrete example of President Obama’s success as Commander-in-Chief:

Using the Bin Laden raid in a television commercial, “is one of the most despicable things you can do,” proclaimed Huffington.

This is a somewhat bizarre position for Arianna considering she made a statement in the same interview, saying, “We should celebrate the fact they did such a great job,” and that it’s “perfectly legitimate,” to have, “an NBC special from the Situation Room.”

Does she really think there’s that much of a difference between an NBC special and TV ads? That putting out a campaign message during the content portion of Prime Time is totally kosher–but, god forbid–if you send out a message in a paid-for advertisement–that’s “one of the most despicable things you can do?”

Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. Sheesh.

I’m afraid someone needs to explain that the whole hour of network TV is essentially, in many ways, a commercial–and that getting a message out to a broad electorate, costs money, no matter how you distribute it.

President Obama, in making his case for reelection, should be able to cite examples of why he is good at what he does, and why we should vote for him to get more of the same.

The real shocker in the Daily Mail piece is a former SEAL sniper with, “160 confirmed kills and another 95 unconfirmed,” making the claim that the Commander-in-Chief didn’t even make the call to get Bin Laden.

Chris Kyle stated, “In years to come there is going to be information that will come out that Obama was not the man who made the call. He can say he did and the people who really know what happened are inside the Pentagon, are in the military and the military isn’t allowed to speak out against the commander- in-chief so his secret is safe.”

His secret is safe. That’s comforting.

Unfortunately, what isn’t safe, is the state of our body politic with this kind of chaff gumming up the works.  

When politicos and pundits come out trying to make all sorts of hay over what the President can or can’t say to the American people in his reelection bid, there’s a good chance that the finger pointing at Obama saying “you’re over-politicizing your record” is attached to a hand with three fingers pointing right back at the naysayer.

Reductio ad Absurdum.

The fact is, these critics are over-politicizing the issue by trying to hamstring the President, attacking his well-known virtue of personal restraint and self-control, by insinuating he’s crossed some ethical boundary.

There are many examples of a lack of ethics and morality which spring forth from the modern American fount–from Congress, from the courts, and yes, from the Presidency.

Politics is a very fungible art–but in the case of Obama telling us what he thinks he got right, well, this is so politically straight-ahead, that it boggles the mind as to what straws will be grabbed at next.

Oh yeah, he ate dogs and crickets in Indonesia.