White House Situation Room, May 1, 2011 (White House photo)

White House Situation Room, May 1, 2011 (White House photo)

As he reviewed the options, Obama had history to consider. As some of his predecessors can attest, these are the missions that can define a presidency. President Jimmy Carter's failed re-election bid was blamed in part on the disastrous attempt to rescue American hostages from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1980. Eight American troops were killed when a special operations aircraft collided with a Navy helicopter at a rendezvous point in the desert on their way to the embassy. And in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, made famous in the movie "Black Hawk Down," two helicopters were shot down and 18 American soldiers were killed during a U.S. mission to snatch a Somali clan warlord.

This week the vast majority of Americans celebrated the successful operation that sealed bin Laden's fate. It's worth reflecting for a moment on the political risk assumed by the Commander-in-Chief who made the call Political courage has become so rare these days that we're almost stunned, not sure how to react, when the real deal makes an unscheduled visit, much less when it succeeds. Maybe it helps to contrast it with the more familiar, fake variety.

The rolls of political courage do not include Paul Ryan and his ilk, reverse Robin-hoods lauded by the Fox-Limbaugh axis for bravely taking from the middle class and giving to the super rich. You won't find selfless valor in the Governor's mansion in Madison, WI., where a coddled bureaucrat is funding tax cuts for his wealthy benefactors on the backs of middle class teachers and public servants. It doesn't take grit to be born rich and question the President's character from the privileged perch of family fortune and ego mania.

Political courage is a bit of an oxymoron, as it poses no physical risk to the politician expressing it and hinges critically on looking beyond politics. It is acting on behalf of the American people for no other reason than it's the right thing to do, regardless of the grave but purely political risk posed to one man or one party. Barack Obama made just such a call knowing full well that success would be downplayed if not outright stolen by the usual backseat drivers. And he had to know that even partial failure would have fueled a division of conservative media bulldozers intent on burying him.