Amateur Hour Returns?

Is the Obama administration snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?

A series of changes to the administration’s initial account about the daring mission has posed some questions. At an early briefing, officials said bin Laden fired at the U.S. team; now, they say the Al Qaeda chief never picked up a weapon. The White House claimed the commandos were in a running gun battle “throughout” the 40-minute operation; now, officials say only one man in the compound fired, and he was shot dead early in the mission.

As officials walked back their initial narrative, an operation that had seemed nearly flawless produced two days of unflattering headlines.

“They did rush to explain the situation before a debrief of the members of the unit,” said former CIA counterterrorism chief Vincent Cannistraro. “They keep saying ‘fog of war,’ but that’s always the case in every operation. There was too much eagerness to get the story out, and they made mistakes, clearly.”

When you have one of his potential rivals complaining over transparency, it does seem that they're losing control over the narrative. Some more on that here.