Op-Ed: Political implications following Gadhafi’s death

(LIN) – Heading into election 2012, President Barack Obama owns a 39 percent job approval rating while almost 9 percent of Americans are unemployed. About 75 percent of Americans believe the economy will be getting worse before it gets better.

The last president to get re-elected with an unemployment rate over 7 percent was former President Ronald Reagan in 1984 . He won partly because the unemployment rate had gone down from 10 percent.

To top it off, attempts to provide the economy with a shot in the arm are voted down by Congress. A recent example is the now defunct whole version of the “ American Jobs Act. ”

In short, re-election prospects based on domestic policies don’t bode well for the president.

However, with Thursday’s news that former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi had been killed, the president’s campaign staff would be well-advised to place more emphasis on Obama’s foreign policy strategy.

In May 2011, members of Navy SEAL Team 6 burst into a compound in Abottabad, Pakistan and in a cross-fire, shot and killed the mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Osama bin Laden.

In September, a senior al-Qaida official closely involved with the training of Sept. 11 terrorists, Anwar al-Awlaki, was killed by a CIA drone strike.

And with Thursday’s news that the thorn in America’s side has been killed in Libya, the president’s foreign policy reputation stands in stark contrast to his domestic achievements.

While Obama didn’t pull the trigger personally in any of those events, historically, the president is credited with the successes and failures.

In fact, in 1989, Reagan’s “ tear down this wall ” speech was credited to helping bring about the fall of the former Soviet Union.

In comparison would be former President Jimmy Carter’s bungling of the Iran hostage rescue attempt in Operation Eagle Claw in 1980.

On Nov. 15, Republican presidential candidates will swarm to the battleground state of New Hampshire for yet another debate.

This one will feature questions about foreign policy and national security and candidates will be asked specifically how their foreign policies would differ from Obama’s.

More importantly, what will their strategies be in pursuit of America’s high value targets?

Foreign policy could be a deciding factor on Election Day.