Say what you will about President Obama, but it is hard to imagine two years ago he would have taken unilateral military action in Pakistan without telling the Pakistani government. He has grown in office.Ben Domenech has a good take on this over at Real Clear Politics and notes pretty well that Obama continuing to operate out of George Bush’s playbook, the very one he intended to throw out, got us to where we are.

Whatever you may think of Obama’s domestic policies or diplomatic decisions, his approach to national security has been largely wise and overwhelmingly vindicated thus far. His reconsideration of the promise to shut down Gitmo, his shifting of the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed back to a military tribunal, and his reliance on several key personnel under George W. Bush who may disagree (and indeed have disagreed publicly) with him on other matters – Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Gen. David Petraeus chief among these, but hardly alone – have projected a far more stable, responsible, and moderate national security approach.This has not come without cost, mostly from Obama’s left flank, where many of his supporters have criticized him for going back on his word. But it’s now reported that the bin Laden raid began with the interrogation of a detainee roughly four years ago, and the CIA continued to follow this lead under Obama, in August discovering a compound which stood out in its neighborhood for a number of startling reasons.

My, my how governing is so different from campaigning.