No kidding - we’d still be waiting if he hadn’t taken this bold move.
As there were no news teams on the scene, I accept that whatever the official story is, it may or may not be true. We have no way of knowing, and will never know. If they make a Movie of the Week about this, the script I'd believe would go thus:
Obama refuses to allow the U.S military to make a first move. Cpt. Phillips dives off boat first time and the attempt fails. Navy SEALS are pissed. They know that if they'd at least been in the water in the vicinity, they could have taken advantage of the situation. They request having guys in the water. Obama says no, or maybe even says "Yes, but don't make the first move." SEALS are in the water regardless, and those guys aren't just going to wait around for Obama to make up his mind. They go in, grab the captain, kill three of the guys and take the other to the ship where he was supposedly negotating. The official story that the captain jumped again to protect the SEALS.
Push is going to come to shove with our military with Obama in office.