They weren't entirely sure he was there.

Obama's team of advisors were divided about the president's three options: wait for more intelligence, strike from above, or go in on the ground from helicopters, as they did.

This was a HUGE risk. If BIn Laden was not there, or if the mission failed in any way, the U.S. would be in a terrible position for entering a sovereign country and attacking whoever actually was in that place. It couldn't have happened again, so this was a one-chance operation. The only way to get away with it was for it to succeed perfectly.

Politically, it would have been an absolute disaster if it hadn't worked. President Clinton missed Bin Laden and was ridiculed for that, and for supposedly "bombing an aspirin factory" -- remember that? And BushCo, that pompous team of phony machismo, didn't even have the guts to risk political fall-out by sending our forces into the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan.

So anyone who said the president just "complied," or that it was a no-brainer to give that order, is deluded. It took guts. It was also a risk for the CIA and for the State Department. How would our UN allies have reacted if this seemed to be a foolish, rash move, done in secret without consulting them, let alone the Pakistan government? Or what if we'd struck from the air and killed civilians, and still there was no Bin Laden there? What position would SoS Hillary Clinton be in right now?

The very idea of going in to Pakistan to get Bin Laden, given "actionable intelligence," was discussed during the Democratic primary debates as a very sensitive and controversial issue, with a lot of care not to go too far in even talking about the hypotheticals.

So make no mistake. This was a risky, gutsy move. They did it without any leaks, without any mistakes, and without any disruption. And now nobody's prancing around in fake uniforms on aircraft carriers, nobody's strutting about with macho slogans and poses, and nobody's making inappropriate braggadocio tough-guy sophomoric remarks. Instead -- gotta hand it to him -- Obama is talking about unity again.

It worked, and the risk paid off. And our Democratic administration deserves great credit.