Did Obama Kill His Re-Election Chances By Killing Osama?

While some contend the killing of Osama bin Laden all but assures a second term in office for President Obama, this appears to me to be a hasty conclusion.

First, the election is more than a year away. A lot can happen in this time period before the election, especially with regard to price inflation, which is teetering on the edge of a major upside breakout.

Second, it is now clear, as the story develops, that the raid on bin Laden's hideout was a kill operation and that there was no plan to take bin Laden alive. And that the opportunity to take bin Laden alive was very real.

Aside from the questionable legal grounds for such a kill operation and the stoking of anger toward the U.S. from the Muslim world that the killing has created, the U.S. masses are most apt to negatively react to the fact that by killing bin Laden, versus capturing him alive, the President has killed a target who presumably held all the details about the al Queda operation. The Republicans have to lay low for a bit, but slowly bringing this fact to the forefront and making it the centerpiece of a campaign that makes the President look like a poor decision maker in not keeping such a valuable source of information alive, may result in the President having killed his re-election chances, along with the killing of Osama.