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Osama Bin Laden has been found and killed. The fact that the number one enemy of the United States of America is now dead is immutable. Whether Bin Laden was, at the time of his death, the mastermind behind a global terrorism organization or a doddering old man waiting to die is open to debate.

Either way, what does the death of Osama Bin Laden mean for President Obama politically? Like most matters political, it depends on whom you ask.

Obama’s base was not really that keen on hunting down the former master of terror. While virtually all Americans of every political stripe cheered the end of Bin Laden, the victory will have little carry with the Left. The Left is quietly – although not as quietly as they once were – none too happy that the Obama administration has continued to policies of his predecessor by operating in various theaters of war around the planet.

Nothing could make Obama’s political adversaries on the Right any happier than to see Bin Laden’s body dumped on the bottom of the ocean, except maybe if they could have seen Bin Laden’s body violated in indecent and inhuman ways and then dumped on the bottom of the ocean. But the Political Rationalization Machine quickly kicked in and the Conservative pundits gave at least equal credit to the Bush Administration and the fine men and women of the US Military, conveniently diminishing in their estimation the grandeur of Obama’s role in the achievement of a decade-long quest for retribution.

Those rare Middle-grounders who are sold out to neither the Right or the Left, those relative few wafflers who determine the country’s direction every four years based on such important qualities as public speaking skills, never-to-be-fulfilled promises, the current state of the economy, and nice hair, were generally more pleased with Obama’s foreign policy skills after Bin Laden’s death than they were before. Had the POTUS chosen to rest on his laurels, he may have gained some political hay from the incident.

Instead, he quickly followed up his greatest international achievement with ill-advised and unwanted advice to Israel coupled with an almost-immediate and highly insulting retraction/clarification/”that’s not what I said”.

Bottom line – the killing of Osama Bin Laden doesn’t change President Obama’s estimation from the Right, Left, or the Middle.

Because Al-Quaeda is still out there, it doesn’t change his mission one bit. Removing Bin Laden from this earthly life was a good thing for America, but – whether it’s fair or not – the corresponding political bump for the president will not make it to 2012.