I’ve been trying to parse the White House spokesman’s claim tonight that “Neither the president nor anyone in the White House denied any requests for assistance in Benghazi.”
While I’ve no trouble assuming that it could just be an out and out lie, given the source, it would seem a risky move given that the truth is likely to eventually come out (and I very much suspect that the truth is that Obama refused to help our guys.)
Then I realized there is one way the statement could be construed as true, but Obama still refused help. It was the same way Kennedy treated the message from the Soviets during the Cuban Missile Crisis, i.e., pretend he never saw it.
Or, put another way, if he got the request for help but just ignored it, it would be accurate to say that “Neither the president nor anyone in the White House denied any requests for assistance in Benghazi.” Denial, in military terms, is a direct response, as in “Your request is denied.” That denial would be logged somewhere as an official response. But ignoring a request is a different story. Not an official denial; not an official approval; not an official anything, not even an “I’ll take it under advisement.”
A reasonable analysis, given that it concerns a person famous for voting “present” more than any other legislator???
But there was a live feed in the situation room.
Political decision all the way. “What if we go in and fail?”
Plus, Obama’s first instinct is to ... do nothing. Remember word that it was 2-3 attempts to get Obama to go after OBL and they had to navigate around Valerie Jarrett?
Like Kennedy, he abandoned the very people he promised to protect.