Quote:
Originally Posted by SmootSmack
What's the protocol on informing former Presidents of major news? I know that Obama called W and Clinton each personally to let them know what had happened, which to me was the right thing to do. But I didn't hear anything about him calling Carter of HW Bush
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I thought about that too. Basically, there's a lot of overlap between Obama, Bush II, and Clinton in effort to combat terrorism. And remember Bill Clinton had the intel and the opportunity to take out bin Laden, but he was public enemy number one back in those days. You have Republicans and Democrats under Obama who have worked with Clinton and Bush. The obvious ones that come to mind are Panetta and Gates. So it's more out of presidential courtesy and respect.
I would also imagine that Obama had numerous off the record conversations with both George Bush and Bill Clinton, not so much with Bush I and Carter. From a sheer PR perspective, I would imagine that the Obama administration wouldn't want to be perceived to be to closely aligned with President Carter and his foreign policy, as most view his presidency as a failure.