IT was back in October 2008 that Barack Obama, at the time the Democratic hopeful in the US presidential election, pledged to America: "We will kill bin Laden."

After almost three years he has kept his promise, succeeding where Bill Clinton and George W Bush failed.

With the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 bombings only months away, the prize of removing the planet’s No 1 terrorist gives Mr Obama the biggest national security victory America has seen in the decade since that tragic day.

Politically, the timing, with the 2012 presidential campaign on the horizon, is clearly fortuitous for Mr Obama and will give his bid for a second term in office a huge boost. Indeed, in his address to the US public on Sunday night, the President made sure that his audience fully understood it was his decision and his decision alone to target Osama bin Laden, saying: “Shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al Qaeda.”

While Mr Obama received widespread political praise for securing the demise of bin Laden, some of his Republican opponents sought to place more emphasis on the work of the intelligence services and US armed forces.

However, the killing of bin Laden will help restore Mr Obama’s reputation on foreign policy, which has come in for a deal of criticism over Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Barely a month ago, an Ipsos poll found only 17% of Americans regarded the President as a strong military leader while 36% described him as “indecisive and dithering”.

Some 48% termed him “cautious and consultative”. The death of bin Laden will also give a lift to Mr Obama’s flagging approval rating in wake of the banking crisis and global recession.

Recently, it touched an all-time low of 41%, having stood at 69% in early 2009. The first test of his popularity abroad will come on a scheduled visit to Britain later this month.

Accompanied by his wife Michelle, he will make the first state visit to the UK since Mr Bush, below left, in 2003. He will then travel on to the G8 summit in Deauville, France.

While Mr Obama will undoubtedly gain a political fillip from the death of bin Laden, he should be wary about basing too much upon it.

Heightened security alerts and calls for vigilance show that the threat from terrorism could now be even greater as al Qaeda, under the leadership of Ayman al Zawahiri, seeks to prove it still has the capacity to strike.

And, while foreign policy victories do an incumbent president no harm, their chances of re-election rest mainly on the domestic front and how well the economy is performing.

So, come autumn next year when US voters focus on matters closer to home – getting petrol prices down, boosting growth and increasing jobs – Mr Obama’s triumph in killing Osama bin Laden is likely to seem but a distant memory.

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