When he is done with his time in office President Obama may want to seriously consider entering the World Series of Poker. One of the keys for any poker player is hiding what they have in their hand. The President successfully hid the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, even though the mission had been developed and planned for months. The news of Osama bin Laden’s death came as complete surprise to everyone in America, including analysts who pride themselves on reading the President’s body language. The night before bin Laden was killed, and after the President had signed the order to raid the bin Laden compound, Obama actually laughed at a Seth Meyers’ joke about bin Laden at the White House Correspondents Dinner. In the video to the left, Obama can be seen calmly smiling and laughing while Meyers jokes about bin Laden hosting a show on C-SPAN. The entire time no one knew the President was holding what amounted to a royal flush.
According to reports from U.S. officials, the President was first informed about the intelligence on bin Laden’s whereabouts in mid-August. Since that time U.S. intelligence officials have been tracking bin Laden’s couriers in an attempt to narrow down the location of bin Laden. President Obama participated in at least nine national security meetings on the operation.
Then, once officials were highly confident that bin Laden was in the compound in Pakistan, President Obama signed the order to attack the compound on Friday morning at 8:20 am. Since that time the President has toured devastation in Alabama, delivered comedic remarks in front of thousands of media members at the White House Correspondents Dinner, listened to Seth Meyers joke about bin Laden, and play nine holes golf. The entire time, no one knew that special operations forces were planning and implementing the strike which would bring the 9-11 terrorist mastermind to justice.
During the 2008 campaign then-candidate Obama gained a reputation of being “cool” under fire, and never showing his emotions. The President’s poker face talents were certainly on display over the last few days.
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