(Image Source: The White House )

BY BLAKE HANSON

Politico dubbed it “Osama bin Laden operation, part two.” Approaching the one-year anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death, The Obama campaign is touting the killing as a campaign tool. The volley of marketing missiles includes a web ad featuring former President Bill Clinton...

“He took the harder and more honorable path, and in my opinion the one that produced the best result.”

So is this a smart campaign move or is taking advantage of the event going too far? The New York Times reports the P.R. blitz is an attempt to reassure Americans who is really in charge...

“Facing an onslaught of criticism from Republican rivals who try to paint him as a lightweight celebrity, the Obama White House and campaign are engaging in a media blitz meant to remind everyone who has been calling the shots on foreign policy.”

The hosts of “Fox and Friends Weekend” expressed their concern over the possible politicization of the event...

DAVE BRIGGS: “That is maybe a little disturbing to me, that we’re not giving credit to the brave men and women who were responsible here.”
CLAYTON MORRIS: “It just seems odd and weird to be using this in a sort of congratulatory way.”

Politico’s Josh Gerstein writes that the Obama campaign is aware it’s walking the tightrope with this issue...

“It’s an all-out push by Team Obama to find the ideal bin Laden balance: harnessing maximum political advantage from the anniversary while minimizing any backlash over politicizing the historic event.”

The Obama campaign’s web ad also features Mitt Romney quoted in the Associated Press as saying “it’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.” Romney has since said “any president would have done that” in response to the mission killing bin Laden. But as Daily Telegraph writes — the Obama campaign’s strategy is to play up Mitt Romney’s alleged fear of risk...

“In the most strident attack so far on his Republican rival's credentials as a potential commander-in-chief, Obama suggested Romney would have demurred if given the opportunity to kill Laden. [Romney’s]  biographers claim that he was in fact a risk-averse businessman, notorious for nervously playing with his tie when forced to make difficult decisions ... “

But The Hill reports Republicans have been quick to protect Romney on this issue...

“Seizing on the Obama campaign spot, [Senator John] McCain accused Obama of being hypocritical. ‘This is the same president who once criticized Hillary Clinton for invoking bin Laden to ‘score political points,’ he said.”

Also sparking backlash — Mr. Obama granted NBC’s Brian Williams a rare interview to commemorate bin Laden’s death inside The Situation Room. That interview is set to air Wednesday.