Rush Limbaugh began his radio show Monday morning praising President Obama for his leadership in the demise of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

In his nationally syndicated radio show, Limbaugh who has been one of Obama's fiercest critics, gave the commander-in-chief all the glory in the successful mission that ended the life of Public Enemy No. 1.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we need to open the program today by congratulating President Obama," Limbaugh said. "President Obama has done something extremely effective and when he does, this needs to be pointed out. President Obama has continued the Bush policies of keeping a military presence in the Middle East. He did not scrub the mission to get Bin Laden. In fact, it may be that President Obama single-handedly came up with the technique in order to pull this off."

Limbaugh, who has recently criticized the first lady's figure, said in 2009 that he hopes Mr. Obama fails, and complained last year about Americans donating to the post-earthquake humanitarian relief in Haiti, continued about Bin Laden: "You see the military wanted to go in there and bomb. They always do. They wanted to go in there and drop missiles and launch bombs. A number of totally destructive techniques here. But President Obama, perhaps the only qualified member in the room to deal with this, insisted on the Special Forces. No one else thought of that. President Obama. Not a single intelligence adviser, not a single national security adviser, not a single military adviser came up with the idea of using SEAL Team 6 or any Special Forces," Limbaugh said, with what some are saying is a slight tinge of sarcasm in his delivery.

"Our military wanted to go in there and just scorch the earth," Limbaugh continued, "but President Obama single-handedly understood what was at stake here. He alone understood the need to get DNA to prove the death ... it was President Obama single-handedly and alone who came up with the strategy that brought about the effective assassination of Osama bin Laden," the radio host said, concluding, "Thank God for President Obama."

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-- Tony Pierce

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Photo: Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh speaks during a news conference at The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu on Jan. 1, 2010. Credit: Chris Carlson / Associated Press

