Posted on 10/13/2012 1:16:54 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
My guess is no, they wouldn’t dare, but the Daily Caller and Tom Maguire make a fair point. In the span of about 18 hours, we’ve had Biden and Carney each insist that blame for Benghazi’s security failures lies outside the White House. It’s State that’s responsible for protecting U.S. diplomats in the field, which means if the buck doesn’t stop with Obama here, then it must stop with you-know-who. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, as cabinet members are expected to take the heat for the president when something goes badly wrong. But in this case you-know-who has her eye on running in 2016 — possibly against (heh) Biden himself — and surely doesn’t want Benghazi staining the foreign policy credentials she’s worked hard to build.
Throw Bill Clinton, official Obama campaign surrogate, into the mix and we’ve got the makings of a nuclear clusterfark of ego, ass-covering, presidential ambition, and Clintonian drama. Edward Klein says the chain reaction is already in motion:
In fact, since the convention, Clinton and Obama have had a serious falling-out over two issues: the president’s preparation and lamentable performance in his debate with Mitt Romney, and the question of who should be assigned blame — Obama or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — for the intelligence and security screw-up in Benghazi, Libya…
My sources tell me that Clinton is working on a strategy that will allow Hillary to avoid having Benghazi become a stain on her political fortunes should she decide to run for president in 2016.
Bill Clinton has even gone so far as to seek legal advice about Hillary’s liability in terms of cables and memos that might be subpoenaed by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which this week launched an investigation into the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The committee will also examine the apparent Obama administration cover-up that followed the Benghazi attack.
Finally, I’m told that Bill is playing with various doomsday scenarios, up to and including the idea that Hillary should consider resigning over the issue if the Obama team tries to use her as a scapegoat.
Mickey Kaus sees the plot potentially thickening:
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Mickey Kaus
Will Hillary now shiv Obama back + leak that WH knew? Getting interesting! HRC v BHO/HRC v Joe. Will WJC keep stumping? dailycaller.com/2012/10/12/whi…
12 Oct 12
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I’m skeptical that O would hang Hillary out to dry, for four reasons. One: She’s the most popular member of the administration, far more popular than even The One himself. Her husband, who’s out on the trail for Obama as I write this, may be even more popular than she is. Why would O want to alienate the Clintons at a moment when he’s desperate to maximize turnout among Democrats? Doing that would damage his re-election chances more than a perfunctory “the buck stops with me” statement on Benghazi.
Two: She’s leaving soon anyway. She said earlier this year that she’ll serve four years at State and no more. Why pick a fight when they’ll benefit from the perception of new leadership at State in three months anyway? Just play out the string, be nice to her, blame “miscommunications” at the Department for the breakdown in consulate security, and let her ride off into the sunset.
Three: How are Obama and Biden going to scapegoat the most famous woman politician in America for a security breakdown at a moment when they’re counting on a decisive gender gap to deliver them a second term? After nine months of the “war on women” and Sandra Fluke and the three-day salute to abortion that you and I know as the Democratic convention, they’re going to freeze out … Hillary Clinton? C’mon.
Four: Even if O thought he could get away with scapegoating Hillary without fear of reprisal from women voters and the Clinton machine, it’d make him look pathetically weak. He likes to talk about how, as president, he bears responsibility for everything, but when you try to pin him down on specifics, he thinks he bears responsibility for almost nothing — be it the economy (Bush’s fault), Fast & Furious (DOJ underlings’ fault), the Benghazi horror (the Mohammed movie’s fault, now State Department underlings’ fault), etc. In fact, my hunch is that Hillary might secretly relish the chance to take a “buck stops here” line herself on Benghazi notwithstanding the danger it poses to her foreign-policy cred, since the public would respect that someone in the administration was willing to stand up. That’s a dangerous contrast for O: If you thought he looked weak before, imagine how he’d look if he tried to push this off on his Secretary of State — and former rival — and she turned it somehow into a demonstration of political courage and accountability. There are already plenty of people who think they nominated the wrong Democrat in 2008. He doesn’t need any more.
Exit quotation from Maguire: “Will this Obama/Biden message of ‘We killed Osama but they forgot to remind us about the blowback’ really carry them past the election?”
Update: An excellent point from Karl:
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Middle of last week Obama had a sit with Hillary in the Oval office. That is one transcript I would like to see.
Biden isn’t running in 2016 - even he wouldn’t be that stupid.
Coming from Biden’s mouth if he and Obama did not get the requests for security than the blame is on the State Department and Hillary Clinton according to them. This is getting very interesting.
These speculations are so unsophisticated. Hilary has already said she does not want to remain as SOS for another term.
Which means she will resign and take the heat away from Obama - the media will immediately paint her as ‘Churchillian’ in grace, courage and statemanship.
If Hillary has any sense and loyalties—she will start singing.
Agreed. First, they will fire some underling who "should have notified the Secretary of State immediately" but somehow failed to do so. (A total lie.) Then Hillary will reiterate that she is leaving the Administration as she already stated, and that she's sorry she has to leave while this controversy is still brewing.
She will say that, although she didn't know about the request for additional security (a total lie), nor did she know that it was a planned terrorist attack immediately, still she takes full responsibility for the situation because she is, after all, the SOS. Obama will thank her for her faithful service and say that it wasn't really her fault.
If Romney wins, November will the time to watch the hearings. Hillary “will ask to testify”. She will hold Obama as the Committee bus goes to Drive and back to Reverser over and over. She will try to regain her stature by informing she told the President.
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The Clintons take no prisoners and will not go down without a fight... Or stirring up a very bloody mess. This would br the END of Hillary's career forever.
Leave Randy alone.
does a bear.....
The media certainly isn’t going to hold anyone in the Administration, be it Obama or Clinton, accountable for Benghazi.
This is all the fault of the guy who made the video. /Story
Move along, sheeple.
Over here.
Look at it in another way, Bill Clinton could say something that Obama would not like at those campaign stops..
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