The three State Department officials who resigned today in the wake of the release of a scathing report on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya will probably be the only ones held accountable for that disaster. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is conveniently laid up due to a concussion and won’t testify before a congressional committee on the issue, just as she avoided being called to account in the aftermath of the murders even though she issued a statement saying she took “full responsibility” for what happened.
As Seth wrote earlier today, Clinton, who is resigning soon anyway, has managed to maintain a reputation as a successful secretary of state despite a record that can only be characterized as unremarkable at best. A more harsh assessment would say that she has failed on virtually every major issue, whether it was relations with Russia, the Middle East peace process, or stopping Iran’s nuclear program. The Benghazi debacle is just the frosting on the cake on four years in which Clinton skated by on her reputation and a press corps determined to flatter her. She was unable to achieve any real successes, but also was clearly subordinate to the White House rather than being the person calling the shots on policy.
While it’s clear that in the short run Clinton will escape the public opprobrium she deserves for presiding over the Benghazi fiasco, it would be wrong to assume that this is the last we will hear of it. If, as many expect, she runs for president in 2016, Democratic opponents will clobber her with the account of how her department ignored pleas for more security in Benghazi and then spread misleading stories about a terrorist attack being nothing more than film criticism run amok.
Though she was the runner up in the 2008 Democratic presidential contest, that was a case more of Barack Obama winning than Clinton losing. Clinton entered that race as the overwhelming favorite in part because of her last name but also because she had no real personal liabilities as a candidate other than the idea among many in the party that it was time to move on from the Clinton era. Many Democrats who are unlikely to think critically about the Obama administration will ignore the facts about the dismal record of the State Department under her leadership. But in four years, when Obama is on his way out of the White House, it is entirely possible that by then some will be willing to hold Benghazi against his first secretary of state. In 2008, Clinton’s campaign attempted to exploit Obama’s lack of experience by talking about 3 a.m. crisis phone calls. But in 2016, it will be Clinton’s opponents who will be talking about how she flubbed just such a crisis and the result was lost American lives.
Despite the blithe confidence of her fans, the assumption that Hillary will have a cakewalk to the Democratic nomination in 2016 may turn out to be just as wrong as similar predictions in the years leading up to 2008. A bright new face may crowd her out just as one did during her first presidential try. But Clinton remains a formidable contender; the Benghazi blame that she is currently dodging may turn out to be one more reason why she will never be president.
Hilary's "concussion" might last right up until she announces her run for Prez. I wonder if her recent Barbara Walters interview was pre or post-concussion.
it won't just be Benghazi.
“it won't just be Benghazi.” n nNo. it won’t. It will be more of the general mess in Libya. It will be the Arab Spring turned Arab Winter. It will be the Russian “reset.” It will be the Iranian nuclear bomb and all of the chaos that will go with it. It will be her toady attitude toward “reformer” Assad. It will probably be the loss of Iraq and Afghanistan. In short it will be the deterioration of the United States’ influence in the world as well as of the world itself. n nIt seemed to me that the MSM were doing their best/worst to carry Hillary’s water in the ’08 primaries, but the skeletons in her closet were enough for ten morgues, and the MSM were almost delighted to drop her for Obama as soon as they could. n nWill it be any better for Hillary in ’16? Hardy! I would say Obama has fixed Hillary, as only he can, so that she will be as unelectable as possible forever, and ever, and ever. Amen. n
I think her main problem will be convincing the voters she can be a vigorous, effective president when it takes her weeks to recover from a mild concussion.
In 2008 we were given a ringside seat to the dispute between Obama and Hillary about who, when that phone rings at 3am, is the right person to answer it. What's clear now is that NEITHER of them bothered the answer the phone. So the question is moot.
If Vince Foster's dead body or any of the others who've turned up dead of freak accidents around the Clinton's didn't haunt Hillary, what makes anyone think Benghazi will?
And she had no concussion either…. it was BS.
actually, it's yourself BSing as you haven't the faintest way of knowing a darn thing about her condition.
great post! n nhaving just gotten your dumb buttocks kicked after thinking that the Repubs were gonna romp over Obama, why not start pretending that things'll be entirely different different in four years. n n nhey, can't start fooling yourselves any too soon…after all Obama is only a month away from strating his second term.
Just make sure you get in line where Fuhrer Obama tells you to in a month.
up your flagpole, bent. n nI'm not accepting any "fuhrer" jokes from you or any other rodents.
You replied, you got a response. Don't like it? Don't reply directly to people, wuss.
Benghazi can only come back to haunt her if the MSM does its job. Oh wait. The answer is no.
"Will Benghazi Haunt Hillary in 2016?" The answer is a definite NO! The press and the Democrats are already dusting off and saving two answers: "This is old news" and "This has already been fully answered". So just move on folks. Nothing for you to see here. Hillary is a leftist woman so she will be protected no matter what.
God, I hope so… Who cares actually… If I was the GOP I would be trying to make this stick to her so we could do a preemptive strike on Hillary in 2016. Hey the DNC proved that nasty works.
the sort of camp at which you would be a guard don't serve cake, creep
Definitely not yours or Barry's brand of cake, twinki.
and you're not much worth stepping in, scrote.