Daily Santorum OBL Edition: 5/2/11

It was never going to be easy. But how do you beat this guy now?

Speculation abounds about how this will help President Barack Obama politically, as he already enjoys the power of incumbency and a GOP field that -- as NYT pointed out Sunday, before the bin Laden killing -- is lacking. The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza notes, though, that people thought George H.W. Bush was unbeatable during the Gulf War and, in the end, the election will be about the fate of the economy.

But for the time being, the criticism of Obama will recede as Americans celebrate the successful mission to kill Osama bin Laden. Rick Santorum was pleased but didn't single out the president for congratulations. His statement:

This is extraordinary news for all freedom loving people of the world, and I commend all those involved for this historic triumph. Americans have waited nearly ten years for the news of Osama bin Laden's death.  And while this is a very significant objective that cannot be minimized, the threat from Jihadism does not die with bin Laden. As we were vigilant in taking him out we need to demonstrate we will continue to be vigilant until the enemy has been subdued.

Politico's Alex Burns writes that you can put aside for a while lines like the one Santorum employed in his National Press Club speech on Thursday: "Freedom has been our watchword, our anchor and our moral guide for nearly every cause both here and abroad. But today, we have lost this mission because our president doesn't believe in it."

It won't stop Santorum from campaigning, though. He's got three events in Iowa today, his 13th trip to the state. The Inquirer's Tom Fitzgerald spent last week in Iowa with Santorum and filed this piece about Santorum trying to make a dent in the wide-open caucus field: "One guy came up to me and said, 'You're on our list. You haven't been eliminated.' I hear a lot of that," Santorum told Fitzy.

In the meantime we're still waiting on Santorum to confirm his attendance at Thursday's GOP debate in Greenville, S.C. by taking a more formal campaign step. The bin Laden news complicates all of that as this week isn't a great time to announce you're running against the man who hunted down Osama.