'Queasy' over a 'sleazy' 'preezy': President Obama tagged for over-the-top campaigning

Left-of-center Washington Post columnist Dana Milibank is not a Mitt Romney supporter, but he came down hard on President Barack Obama on Tuesday for over-the-top rhetoric about Osama bin Laden and for the president's ceaseless and record-setting fundraising.

Referring to Obama's recent appearance on the Jimmy Fallon show, in which the host referrred to the president as "preezy," Milibank added that he was feeling "queasy" and that the president's behavior seemed a bit "sleazy."

Milibank cites a book just out by Brendan Doherty, a political scientist at the Naval Academy, which notes that Obama is the first president to visit all battleground states during his first year in office.

Even more startling, Doherty notes that Obama's 101 reelection fundraisers through March 6 of this year already exceeded the combined total of first-term reelection fundraisers conducted by George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter.

Finally, Milibank objects to Obama's overt politicization of the bin Laden killing, with an ad that suggested that Mitt Romney would not have issued the order.

Milibank is not the only liberal to object to the bin Laden ad. Megablog publisher Ariana Huffington told CBS "We should celebrate the fact that they did such a great job. It's one thing to have an NBC special from the Situation Room... all that to me is perfectly legitimate, but to turn it into a campaign ad is one of the most despicable things you can do," according to the Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail also collected a chorus of voices from Navy SEALs objecting to the use of the bin Laden raid for political purposes.

"Politicians should let the public know where they stand on national security but not in the play-by-play, detailed way that has been done recently. The intricacies of national security should not become part of stump speeches," said one.

The Obama ad questioned whether Mitt Romney, who has ironically been tagged as a cutthroat capitalist ever anxious to pull the trigger in firing a worker, would have been loathe to issue the order to get bin Laden.

On Monday, Romney argued that the question was absurd, and that "Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order."

Eric Schulzke writes on national politics for the Deseret News. He can be contacted at eschulzke@desnews.com.