Top political columnist says 'Osama killing has fundamentally altered US political landscape'

Washington, Apr 29 (ANI): A senior American political columnist, John Avlon, has said President Barack Obama's decision to give the green signal to a Navy Seal raid that killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has fundamentally altered the US political landscape.

Avlon, a senior columnist for Newsweek and The Daily Beast, said Obama's action in the battle against al-Qaeda means that Republicans seeking to oust him in the November election can 'forget the narratives about how Democrats are weak on national security.'

"In the wake of the killing of bin Laden, it has been fascinating to see Republican confusion on foreign policy play out during the primary," he said in his first communique from America.

"Foreign policy mostly came up in the debates as an opportunity to criticise President Obama without offering alternative policy plans - therefore the timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan is attacked but no candidate is actually proposing that we stay longer," The Telegraph quoted him, saying.

According to the paper, Avlon further said that Mitt Romney, with his nomination for the Republican candidacy almost certainly assured, is struggling to look as tough as the President

"Romney's foreign policy vision is still largely a work in progress beneath the bumper sticker slogans about not apologising for America on the world stage - a baseless charge that nonetheless resonates with the conservative base," the paper quoted him, as saying.

"President Obama's credibility on foreign policy stems from his success in taking the fight to al-Qaeda," Avlon said.

"It shakes up stubborn stereotypes in constructive ways, recalling forgotten wisdom once honoured in Washington: partisanship ought to end at the water's edge," he added. (ANI)