Day 1,900 With No Osama

I usually post the latest update to my Osama Clock on Mondays but I just wanted to note that, effective today, it's been 1,900 days since tough-talking George W. Bush said he would smoke Osama bin Laden "out of his hole" and nail him dead or alive. In the massive universe of ways Bush has exploited our nation's tragedy on September 11, 2001, few things seemed to have brought him more political capital with the American people than his swagger and faux resolve to bring those who attacked us to justice.

He stood on the rubble at Ground Zero in New York City and said that the bad guys would "hear all of us soon" and followed that a few days later by invoking imagery of the Old West and saying he would get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive."

Of course, just six months later, that resolve was gone and Bush lamely said to reporters that bin Laden just wasn't that important.

"I don't know where he is," said our iron-willed macho man. "You know, I just don't spend that much time on him to be honest with you."

We can tell, because here we sit at day 1,900 of bin Laden running free and continuing to podcast periodic threats to our country.

"It’s time to refocus our global fight against terrorism," Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in June. "We must move away from the Iraq-centric policies that are draining our resources and focus on Al Qaeda and its affiliates who are reportedly operating in some 60 to 80 countries around the world.”

A good way to start might be for us to actually nab the guy we promised to get five years ago.

I work in New York City, where Bush made his bold claims and can tell you that, while New Yorkers love tough talk, they have little respect for people who can't back it up.

So, yo, Mr. Bush! Where the hell's Osama?