To quote Mark Halperin of Time, “If he loses in November, this will be remembered as the turning point in the race…”. The “this” is Barack Obama’s quick move to the center on a plethora of issues. The death penalty for the world’s most-wanted terrorist is the latest.

Talking to CNN about the hypothetical capture of Osama Bin Laden, Obama had this to say:

If he was captured alive, then we would make a decision to bring the full weight of not only US justice but world justice down on him. And, uh, I think that I’ve said this before, that I am not a cheerleader for the death penalty … I think it has to be reserved for only the most heinous crimes, but I certainly think that plotting and engineering the death of 3,000 Americans justifies such an approach.

I like how he “think(s)” that slaughtering 3,000 people qualifies OBL for the death penalty. Anyway, here’s what the Messiah had to say about a punishment for bin Laden 3 weeks ago:

“What would be important would be for us to do it in a way that allows the entire world to understand the murderous acts that he’s engaged in and not to make him into a martyr, and to assure that the United States government is abiding by basic conventions that would strengthen our hand in the broader battle against terrorism,” Obama said.

Either he’s flip-flopping or has a fundamental misunderstanding of what infidels killing bin Laden will do. As Geraghty quipped at the time, “Obama has a secret plan to kill Osama bin Laden that somehow doesn’t make him a martyr.”

When we killed Zarqawi, he became a martyr. When we killed al Libi, he became a martyr. When we killed Rabia, he became a martyr. And when we kill bin Laden, he too will become a marytr in the eyes of jihadists.

Update: Per Ed’s update, that’s why I think this is less of a flip-flop and more of a misunderstanding of what killing bin Laden would mean. Back in July 2007, Obama said he supported the death penalty for OBL:

Obama, who has expressed reservations about capital punishment but does not oppose it, said he would support the death penalty for Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.

“The first thing I’d support is his capture, which is something this administration has proved incapable of achieving,” Obama said. “I would then, as president, order a trial that observed international standards of due process. At that point, do I think that somebody who killed 3,000 Americans qualifies as someone who has perpetrated heinous crimes, and would qualify for the death penalty. Then yes.”

And yet he insisted weeks ago that OBL must not become a martyr. So apparently Obama, an infidel, intends to kill Osama bin Laden, a jihadist terrorist, without OBL becoming a martyr to his followers. That’s something I want to see.

Another thing: Obama says Osama must be subject to “not just US justice but world justice”. Why must be be subject to world justice — not just American justice, seeing as his biggest murder was 3,000 people on American soil? As Ed points out, many in the world (including most of our European friends) oppose the use of the death penalty. That should be interesting.

A Hot Air commenter asks:

So if a predator drone gets OBL in its sights, Obama wouldn’t want us to pull the trigger? We should bring him to “world justice”?