Jeff Emanuel at Redstate.org provides a fairly partisan view of the Maersk-Alabama incident in the Indian Ocean. If you check out his editorial, you'll get a heaping spoonful of Obama contempt. Emanuel argues that the administration is essentially stealing credit for a situation that they completely bungled by allowing it to go on for some time - almost 5 days.
We're waiting to hear David Axe's assessment. David (over at warisboring.com and WIRED) is an independent freelance journalist who has spent time tracking Somali pirates. He's also a lot less inclined to let his possible partisan views taint his evaluation of situations. At the time of this writing, David has not posted anything; but we understand he's travelling in Afghanistan, and we continue to pray for his safety...and for his ability to access the Internet.
Emanuel was in the military and would seemingly have a good grasp of military tactics. Based on that background he asserts that the administration showed its inexperience and indecisiveness in this latest foreign policy flare-up. "Inexperience" and "Indecisiveness" are the running memes/narratives on the right these days...that along with referring to Obama as "President Pantywaist."
But looking at the basic facts, wasn't patience possibly a virtue (He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious. - Sun Tzu, The Art of War. c.400-320 b.c.)? When the Indian Navy (pictured above in the AP photo) took out a Thai ship that was being used by the pirates as a mother ship, Thai hostages were killed. When French commandos stormed a ship over the past few days, a hostage was killed. In the case of Captain Phillips, he was in an enclosed lifeboat being towed by a US destroyer. Waiting the pirates out would seem the best way to get an optimal ending. A rush to action may have been emotionally satisfying, but could have led to a similar tragic outcome. In addition, the Indian Navies isolated aggressiveness during the last quarter of 2008 did not deter pirate activity. More coordinated work from a variety of navies is likely necessary. This assessment is based on the actions that can be correlated with reduced pirate activity around Indonesia. It would have only been fair to explore that perspective.
It's fair to assert that the administration may have been latching onto something they had little to do with except to give the folks on the ground (both the Navy and the FBI) the space to operate freely with explicit direction to take drastic action when deemed appropriate. But to be fair, the White House has not held even a meaningful press conference to "take advantage" of the events. As one Skewz.com commentator mentioned, there was no "Mission Accomplished" banner.
Deconstructing a situation in a meaningful way would at least involve looking at the advantages and disadvantages of various possible decisions. The commenting class is focused on persuading versus informing. That persuasion too often relies primarily on emotional appeals versus intellectual ones.
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