Exclusively in political terms, the impeccably orchestrated conclusion to the Somalia pirate standoff yesterday will go down as the national security equivalent of candidate Obama’s nothing-but-net three-point jumper in Kuwait (video here).

Had rescue had gone awry, you can be sure that even the hawks who had been clamoring for a military resolution to the standoff would have turned the episode into evidence of Obama’s unsteadiness as commander in chief. It would have surely picked up some colorful epithet like the “Easter Day massacre” and could have been a real chink in the new president’s armor — just as if bricking 5 or 6 three pointers in a row at that military photo op it would have made for a golden attack ad for a McCain camp seeking to play up their opponent’s inflated sense of self worth.

But there’s something charmed about Obama’s luck — and it comes from the politician’s determination to make his own. You can see it in his steadiness in sizing up his shot on the basketball court; and in the calm confidence he displayed deploying the SEALs to the Somali coast and authorizing the Navy snipers to pull the trigger.

It’s just the latest bit of evidence debunking the right-wing meme that Obama is the second coming of a president who could barely defend himself from killer bunny rabbits.

Expect to see sales of this t-shirt plummet in the future:

Leaked news that Obama will be lifting travel restrictions to Cuba, with a move to also allow communications firms entry to the island’s cell phone market.

This signals a potential tectonic shift in US/Cuba relations. I’ve long maintained that the quickest way to overthrow Communism in Cuba is just to normalize trade relations and let consumer demand on the island revolutionize the economy. Now that Fidel is on the sidelines this finally seems a political possibility.

Is it me, or do all of the Mission Impossible details of the Captain Richard Phillips pirate rescue have you mouthing the words “Jessica Lynch” tonight?

Three sniper bullets, fired at distance, at night, simultaneously felling three pirates on a bobbing boat — one of whom was targeted through a portal window? It strains the suspension of disbelief.

Seriously: NYT’s breathless retelling reads like a script for an episode of 24:

At dusk, a single tracer bullet was seen fired from the lifeboat. The intent was unclear, but it ratcheted up the tension and Seal snipers at the stern rail of the Bainbridge fixed night-vision scopes to their high-powered rifles, getting ready for action.

What they saw was the head and shoulders of two of the pirates emerging from the rear hatch of the lifeboat. Through the window of the front hatch they saw the third pirate, pointing his AK-47 at the back of Captain Phillips, who was seen to be tied up.

That was it: the provocation that fulfilled the president’s order to act only if the captain’s life was in imminent danger, and the opportunity of having clear shots at each captor. The order was given. Senior defense officials, themselves marveling at the skill of the snipers, said each took a target and fired one shot.

I really don’t understand the Taxed Enough Already gang. Obama has ushered in the biggest middle class tax cut in memory.

Anyhow, I post this video mostly for the LOL dissonance between the flowers over Newt’s shoulder and the horror movie soundtrack.

Norm Coleman is officially, mathematically, fucked:

Democrat Al Franken’s lead in Minnesota’s long-disputed Senate race increased to 312 votes Tuesday, making it mathematically impossible for Republican Norm Coleman to be declared the winner.

A three-judge panel appointed by the state Supreme Court is expected to rule this week that Franken won the race.

Lost amid the hullabaloo over Bob Gates’ proposal to end production of a couple of Cold War weapons systems (the grossly expensive F-22 and the even more strategically absurd DDG-1000 destroyer) is the fact that these “cuts” are more than offset by an increase to the core 2010 defense budget of more than $20 billion. That’s right. Obama’s seeking to spend more than Bush did in the 2009 budget. Yes, Gates is suggesting a slightly saner reallocation of resources. But the Defense budget is still bloated and growing larger.

The Bush CIA’s torture methods as described in the chilling ICRC report (.pdf):

• Suffocation by water poured over a cloth placed over the nose and mouth, alleged by three of the fourteen.
• Prolonged stress standing position, naked, held with the arms extended and chained above the head, as alleged by ten of the fourteen, for periods from two or three days continuously, and for up to two or three months intermittently, during which period toilet access was sometimes denied resulting in allegations from four detainees that they had to defecate and urinate over themselves.
• Beatings by use of a collar held around the detainees neck and used to forcefully bang the head and body against the wall, alleged by six of the fourteen.
• Beating and kicking, including slapping, punching, kicking to the body and face, alleged by nine of the fourteen.
• Confinement in a box to severely restrict movement alleged in the case of one detainee.
• Prolonged nudity alleged by eleven of the fourteen during detention, interrogation and ill-treatment; this enforced nudity lasted for periods ranging from several weeks to several months.
• Sleep deprivation was alleged by eleven of the fourteen through days of interrogation, through use of forced stress positions (standing or sitting), cold water and use of repetitive loud noise or music. One detainee was kept sitting on a chair for prolonged periods of time.
• Exposure to cold temperature was alleged by most of the fourteen, especially via cold cells and interrogation rooms, and for seven of them, by the use of cold water poured over the body or, as alleged by three of the detainees, held around the body by means of a plastic sheet to create an immersion bath with just the head out of the water.
• Prolonged shackling of hands and/or feet was alleged by many of the fourteen.
• Threats of ill-treatment to the detainee and/or his family, alleged by nine of the fourteen.
• Forced shaving of the head and beard, alleged by two of the fourteen.
• Deprivation/restricted provision of solid food from 3 days to 1 month after arrest, alleged by eight of the fourteen.

The Vermont state legislature has just mustered the votes to override a gubernatorial veto, making it the first state to legislatively enact gay marriage, and making civil unions obsolete.