A week ago today, Mr. Obama and the First Lady toured the tornado-ruined Alabama city of Tuscaloosa, rushing there quickly after the damage. Then he shuffled his national security team, got briefed on the bombing of Gadhafi's compound (which killed his son), tore up the crowd at the White House Correspondent's Dinner, and, oh yeah, in his spare time, was constantly briefed on the raid of Osama bin Laden's compound, which ended with the Al Qaeda leader shot and killed.
When he arrived at Ground Zero yesterday, he said not a word publicly. But he didn't have to. By then, he had already talked to firefighters and police officers and some family members of the victims.
The need to make a public statement didn't exist. His appearance was statement enough.
His 9-point surge in the ratings came before the events of yesterday. And before the news today that oil prices are down, and the number of jobs created in the past month is nudging the quarter million number - the biggest in five years. And before his appearance at Ft. Campbell today, where he spoke to the troops and to the Navy Seals who killed bin Laden.
Of course, in politics - as in life - good news doesn't go on forever. Maybe that's especially true in politics. But for the President, this was, politically speaking, a successful week.
We're taking a closer look at the economic fallout from today's news, tonight at 11.
Also at 11, our Jim Dolan reports again from Pakistan, where the bin Laden assassination has sparked a public outing of the otherwise closeted tensions in that country between supporters and critics of the late Al Qaeda founder. Meanwhile, two important developments about that compound where bin Laden lived for up to six years.
First, the CIA had a safe house nearby where they apparently spied on and kept track of the comings and goings of the compound and its peeps.
Second, ABC News is reporting tonight that the "treasure trove" of information seized from bin Laden's house is both a playbook and a greatest hits album of al Qaeda aspirations. This, according to several government officials interviewed by ABC News. There's no specific plot, but the targets include water supplies and transportation hubs in the most prominent U.S. cities - New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington. This information was part of the rationale for the FBI warning issued last night about a bin Laden/al Qaeda plot against trains in the U.S.
But the most interesting wrinkle in all this is the notion that al Qaeda would recruit "minorities" to engage in this terrorism, and foster a kind of race and class warfare.
And late this afternoon, word from the Taliban that bin Laden's death will "give a new impetus" to its war against the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan.
Charming.
Finally, our Nina Pineda tonight at 11 is looking into the ramifications of the run-up in the price of gold, which earlier this week hit an all-time high. It's so high that many people are now selling the gold they have had for years. But all that comes with a warning. Nina and her 7 On Your Side crew go undercover to discover that there are all kinds of peeps out there just waiting to rip you off and pay you less than your gold is worth.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Meteorologist Lee Goldberg's AccuWeather forecast, and Rob Powers with the night's sports. I hope you can join Liz Cho and me, tonight at 11, right after a special edition of 20/20, investigating the killing of Osama bin Laden.
And one other note: a Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!