Posted on 10/16/2012 7:40:41 AM PDT by RummyChick
Last night from the relative safety of Lima, Peru Hillary Clinton announced that when it comes to the Benghazi disaster the buck stops with her (sort of).
Many have taken this as a sign Hilary is taking the fall for Obama and letting him off the hook. I have a a different theory....David Axlerod tried to throw her under the bus and she tossed it right back on him and Obama.
What Hillary has done is basically say, "the damn phone is ringing and President Creased Trousers isn't answering it so give it to me. She comes off as the grown up who said, look I'm in charge here and for good or ill that makes me responsible".
People tend to admire others who stand up and take the hits. Hillary looks like A-the loyal soldier and B-the only one who is going to stand up and say, "something awful happened on my watch and I'm going to look in the mirror to see who is in charge and not like some other people I could name, look around for scapegoats".
Hillary isn't taking the blame, she's taking the credit.
Now a lot of this is hypocritical because Hillary already tried casting the blame elsewhere but when all else fails, it's sometimes better to own it in the end.
How does this hurt Obama? Well tonight he will be standing next to Mitt Romney. Romney you might recall has made a rather big stink about Obama's failure to lead and his own stellar leadership record.
Here's how he might play this when Benghazi comes up (or he brings it up himself)..."It's all well and good that Secretary Clinton is taking responsibility but my leadership experience has taught me that only the person at the top of the organization is truly responsible. President Obama is at the top of the Executive Branch and he's ducking responsibility. I'd like to know if the President agrees with the Secretary and if he does, why hasn't he asked for her resignation? If he doesn't agree, why doesn't he say who is responsible? Most importantly, why hasn't he taken responsibility from Day 1. Harry Truman didn't say the buck stopped at the Department of State, it stopped at his desk in the Oval Office."
And then it will get ugly for Obama when Romney ads, "And who does the President blame for the failure of his policies to get this economy going? The Secretary of the Treasury? Maybe he blames you the voters for not paying enough in taxes. This country needs a President who accepts the responsibility that comes with the job and doesn't blame his subordinates."
Obama will have no answer to any of that. He also can't fire Hillary because that would cause problems with Team PUMA and his administration would be in disarray 3 weeks before the election
He can't suddenly say, "Oh no, it's me not Hillary who is responsible" because A-he doesn't believe that and B-It's too late. She beat him to the punch, he'll look like he's scrambling to catch up (which he would be).
Mitt's been running a campaign based on his leadership and Obama's unwillingness and inability to lead. The second most popular (maybe the most popular) Democrat in the country, who happens to be Obama's own Secretary of State, just co-signed that charge by stepping into the vacuum Obama's cowardice created.
What Hillary has done is hand Mitt a baseball bat, turned him in the direction of the giant Obama pinata on stage tonight and said, "Have at buddy. Maybe I'll see you in four years".
And what's the downside to Hillary? None. No one is really going to hold her responsible. The DMM (Democratic Machine Media) won't. The GOP certainly won't (update: as predicted) and Obama can't. She'll be hailed as "presidential", "the one official willing to stand up and take responsibility" and ironically enough, a "good soldier".
Don't forget, Hillary has seen a variation on this play work before. Remember Janet Reno taking the blame for Waco? Clinton looked weak and Reno owned him for the rest of his presidency.
Sure it's kabuki theater and there are still plenty of outstanding questions (who said "hey, let's blame a protest about some tape" among them) but the story will be the debate and if Romney can use it to put Obama back on his heels. By the time Hillary gets back in the country the story and the campaign will have moved on and the damage to Obama will be done.
Maybe Hillary didn't do all of this on purpose (but why wait until now to do this?) but intentionally or not, she's teed this up for Mitt. Will he hit it?
I’m so glad that someone else sees Hillary’s taking responsibity for the deaths of Ambassador Stevens and the 3 other Americans as, I believe, Hillary and Bill’s “How dare you throw me under the bus, here try this on for size. I’m the adult.” I agree, Hillary just gave Mitt a big base ball bat to club Obama with. Talk about “get evenism” I may be wrong but, I can see Obama losing it tonight because Obama is a petulent child who likes to “PLAY” president but that is as far as it goes.
Even if Hillary is telling us some portion of the truth about requests for additional security which were either ignored or denied by the State Department and accepting as her responsibility for failing to provide it, the president of the United States had the watch. The failure of administration policy and actions, especially in foreign policy and even more especially having to do with physical security, are ultimately his exclusive responsibility. It is his responsibility for failing to manage his administration to protect Americans.
He did not do that and he probably did not do that because he did not permit himself to be informed by his intelligence community, not having consented to a briefing for six consecutive days before the murders on 911. A proactive president who had been briefed about the attacks in Libya, who had been informed in those briefings that even our own State Department advised against travel in Libya, would have pressed his intelligence sources for more information and taking prudent steps.
There was a bias up and down the line against providing physical security because it ran counter to the administration's claims that it had opened a new chapter on the war against terror, in fact it had eliminated the war as it had eliminated the word, and burly Marines in heavy boots carrying arms simply would present the wrong image.
These are just the questions of the president's culpability before the event, there is much more to be concerned about in his behavior during the event. Did the president of the United States declined to take the live phone call from the consulate as it was under attack? The allegation is the attack lasted six hours, did the President of the United States not even try to send relief? Did Obama get his 3 AM call and go back to sleep?
And then there are the questions of the culpability of the president for his behavior after the event. Why was all of this covered up? The most likely motivation being to conceal the entire disintegration of the administration's policy respecting Islam.
The president has failed the country in his responsibility to combat terrorism. We are lucky we have only 4 dead. Meanwhile, Americans are dying in Afghanistan to no purpose that I can discern except to get Obama past the election.
With the live feed coming in from Benghazi, where was Obama, if not in the situation room? For six to eleven hours, a consulate was under attack and our ambassador was missing. Where was Obama? Where was Hillary? Was the NSC team assembled in the Situation Room? If not, why not?
What was more important? D.J. Laz, the pimp with a limp?
123 F. Chuck Todd in interviewing Carol Simpson who was teh first town hall moderator said that Benghazzi has been taken off the table for the debate.
Anyone know about this? Why can’t people ask about it
Haig? Anyone the commies tried to blow up is not on the same playing field as these com simps. If you are alluding to the famous I am in control here speech of his, that was done to defuse any potential nuke confrontation with the Ruskies when Reagan was shot, not political theater.
Clinton is being Clinton...she comes first, then the party, then the country. Her move here was to try to remove the damage from the Bengazi incident without killing her hopes for a 16 run....she thinks she found the only path to do that. She did not overtly wish to bring down Ozero because her party would be outside the tent peeing in if he loses which would put a candidancy by her in jeopardy. She is hoping for an O win, he keeps her on board and then she goes out to prepare for her run to succeed him in 16 IMO. If her move fails, the party will line up behind her because she fell on the gernade, a win win for her.
It is all about politics with these vermin.
When will the MSM ask them?
"It's not a scandal if we don't report it."
The Hills are alive with the Sound of Mutiny.
interesting read
another interesting comment:
“196 I was reading on a little blog. The blogger was remembering that BO made appointments in Hillary’s state department that reported directly to BO essentially circumventing Hillary. I don’t remember this but the little blogger was adamant about remembering this. This little blogger seemed to think this was a huge factor in this mess. But they never really explained how that could be.”
Anyone know about this?
It is obvious that the Admin was planning to shoot a missile through an empty tent and up a camels butt right before the election. Now that Hillary has taken the blame and opened Obambi up to attacks - if Mitt seizes this and beats the Kenyan about the head and shoulders with it any attack will be seen as nothing more than an attempt to deflect the criticism and a hail mary pass to get a pool bump.
Basically Hillary not only threw Obama under the bus she completely diffused any attempt at an ‘October Surprise’.
hahhh!!!!! good one!
Hillary can claim to take responsibility for the lack of security in Benghazi and nothing more. When the questions come up about the You Tube video lie, and subsequent coverup of the events in Benghazi, she can tell reporters that they need to direct those questions to the White House. Also, I think there's a good chance she will resign just before the third debate (she was leaving at the end of the year anyway) and will throw Obama under the bus in her resignation speech.
Obama State Department Appointments
I do not know if it is customary for the President to appoint all if these positions but it does seem as though the appointment of some listed there are 'below his pay grade'.
The best part from Hillary’s point of view, ist that Obozo looks like an even bigger Limp D__k than he already is.
‘If” he wins She runs in 4 years, When he loses she runs in 4 years.
Thank you.
Get US out of Af-crap-istan now!
This political intrique is fascinating..but sometimes you just need a laugh. Go see my thread about Jesse Jackon Jr prancing around naked in a Turkish bath.
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