Obama Rating: 21%

My apologies for the late post. Drill weekend pushed this back a few days. However, I did have plenty of time where less than half of my brain was engaged to think of what our fearless leader has accomplished. So, without further ado...

#1: Three pirates with severe lead poisoning...First, the major credit goes to the crazy awesome Navy SEAL snipers who took the shots against said pirates, in the rescue of Captain Richard Philips. From a moving platform, to a moving platform, simultaneously with no missed shots. Three shots, three kills. Outstanding. The commander of the USS Bainbridge saw that the Captain was in "imminent danger" when one of the pirates pointed an AK-47 at his back and ordered the shoot.

Personally, I believe that the only terms we should allow in "talks" with hostage takers is the hostage taker's life, like the Israeli's do. You release the hostages immediately, you live. You don't, you die. If, for any reason, our man is hurt in any way, we will kill you. We then sink your ship and sink your mother ship. We then find your flyspeck port. We tell everyone inside that because of your actions, they have one hour to vacate the premises. We then burn the place to the ground. I'm not for playing around with these punks.

Back to the story. According to the AP, Obama twice authorized the use of lethal force against the captors. I've not been able to determine exactly how the decision was made, what were the parameters set, etc. What is for certain is that, despite the risk, lethal force was authorized by the President. If things had gone poorly, I'd still praise him, but he would have gotten flak for it. As it is, he put his neck out, he deserves the credit. He gains 4% for be willing to speak in the only language we share with these barbarians: Firepower.

(As an aside, the Reverend Sharpton prefers the term "Volunteer Coast Guard" for these despicable scumbags. Brilliant. Hear the audio here.)

#2: Waterboarders will not be prosecuted...According to a statement released with a set of memos describing waterboarding, the administration said that "it is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice, that they will not be subject to prosecution" (though no mention of policymakers was made, so presumably they are still fair game). Chief of Staff Emanuel further said that the President believes that they "should not be prosecuted either and that's not the place that we go."

Whether or not you agree with the morality of using the technique it is difficult to fault the agents who were following orders. They used methods that were authorized at the time, and did so in good faith. To do otherwise would be akin to prosecuting soldiers who used flamethrowers on the Nazis at D-Day, because it is not considered to be inhumane. In both counts I think outlawing the technique was wrong, but either way you cannot fault the Joes who executed the order.

For showing a little legal restraint and respect for the foot soldiers of intel, he gains 3%.

#3: Assault weapon are here to stay, but I don't have to like it. I've gone over my beliefs on the assault weapon ban here. Click the link if you want to be enlightened. For the rest of you, I'll sum it up: Gun control doesn't work, assault weapons are cool, and I'd like one for Christmas.

In a new statement the President has said that he has not backed "off at all from my belief that the assault weapons ban made sense...Having said that, none of us are under any illusion that reinstating that ban would be easy." Allow me to translate here: Yes, I'd like to take your guns, but I know I can't do it...Yet.

This is disturbing to me, and shouldn't be taken as good news. He has publicly proclaimed his opposition to you and I owning assault rifles. The only reason he isn't trying to take them away is because he doesn't think he could do it. The gun-rights lobby is very powerful, and many Americans don't take kindly to the government disarming them.

So, he gains points for not attempting to actually go through with a ban. He also loses points for doing so wistfully. This leaves him with a net impact of 0%.

Totalling up the scores, all this puts him up 7 points to 21%! Excellent week for the POTUS. Can he keep it up, or is this simply a bear rally?