The Meaning Behind the Words

In the opening lines of his State of the Union address a few days ago when talking about his accomplishments, Barrack Obama says, "For the first time in two decades, Osama Bin Laden is not a threat to this country."

There are many different ways he could've brought up the killing of Bin Laden and many different words he could've chosen to describe this action, yet he chose to simply say it this way.  I say "simply" because the words he uses don't have very strong connotations, he is just passively announcing that Bin Laden will no longer be bothering us no more.

This is the beginning of a crucial speech in an election year, so obviously he wants to remind people of his accomplishments to prove his worthiness of being reelected.  So why not say something like, "I killed Osama Bin Laden, the man responsible for millions of American deaths"?

Saying it that way would certainly would help to prove he's not soft and scared of war, as many republicans frame him, as it explicitly points out his ability to do what Bush failed to do.

However, in America, it is common to avoid words like "killed" that could have a very negative connotation.  It is much safer to take Obama's approach and passively explain military operations with words that tell a more positive story.  For example, that is why we use the term "collateral damage" when referring to innocent foreign civilians we killed when performing military operations.  This word "collateral" in this term makes it seem as though it was just something that had to happen.

So, in the line mentioned above in his speech, Obama is really just bragging to prove he's capable of being president, but he says it indirectly by simply saying the positive outcome that came out of his actions, which was that we are not a safer nation.