I am a great admirer of Jonathan Chait, but in his quick reaction to the Osama news, he has said about the most clueless thing I can imagine:
The political ramifications: Minimal to nonexistent. The economy will tell the tale in 2012, and Obama—who had been getting relatively little foreign policy flak from the GOP —was not having a problem establishing his credibility as a foreign policy president on the right. Obama can add this to his list of accomplishments, but it's hard to see it moving voters.
All of this, in an ideal world would be true, but Chait does not seem to realize -- even after two weeks of Birther Madness -- that President Obama's popularity has been dragged down by the perception, fostered by the likes of Glenn Beck but believed by people who are scared but who are basically decent, that Obama is not fully American.
How can this not change that dramatically?
Yes, the economy will be the number 1 issue, but I have long felt that there is a huge gap between Obama's popularity and what it should be based on the objective evidence: numerous accomplishments of which we are all familiar; many pieces of landmark or near-landmark legislation; scandal-free administration; steadiness even in the face of enormous challenges. Obama has disappointed many progressives and Democrats (at times, myself included), but Democrats and even the most liberal Democrats have continued to give him very high marks in the polls.
Now Obama's basic competence and his tremendous leadership skills are going to become very concrete. A huge proportion of the deniers -- and I am not talking so much about the birthers but about those who refuse to believe Obama is a capable person -- will stop denying and start believing.
Chait will eat his words!