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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers the keynote address to the United Methodist Women's Assembly at the Kentucky International Convention Center, Saturday, April 26, 2014, in Louisville, Ky.
Photo by: The Associated Press.[/caption]
It’s beyond ironic that Hillary Clinton wants to claim she won’t play politics with Benghazi. With her release of “Benghazi: Under Attack,” a chapter from her obligatory pre-presidential race tome, the politics are obvious, and the player is Clinton. It’s bloody-shirt politics in reverse, and she is trying to hang that shirt on the Republicans.
With her effort to put herself on the high road, Clinton clearly sees the Benghazi debacle as a huge roadblock for her 2016 presidential bid. Why else would she dedicate 34 pages to it in her new book set to be released later this month? But she needs a reality check if she thinks this one chapter is the only place she will have to defend her actions or inactions in the embassy attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others.
“I will not be a part of a political slugfest on the backs of dead Americans. It’s just plain wrong, and it’s unworthy of our great country. Those who insist on politicizing the tragedy will have to do so without me,” Clinton huffed.
As Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit.com noted, she’s trying to hide behind those bodies instead. It would be laughable that she thinks she can intimidate her 2016 rivals into letting her dismiss this tragedy. But given her ultimate responsibility for the security of U.S. embassy staff on Sept. 11, 2012, it is shameful. Does she really think that’s what the American people want in a president — someone who doesn’t just pass the buck, but throws it back?
Clinton writes, “Those who exploit this tragedy over and over as a political tool minimize the sacrifice of those who served our country.”
No one’s minimizing anything. In fact, the Dems are the ones minimizing what happened by calling the upcoming House select committee investigation a witch hunt.
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus — ironically borrowing a line from the failed 2004 candidate, Clinton’s State successor John Kerry — was saying yesterday that Clinton “failed to report for duty.”
“If she’s even thinking about running for president, I think she has been disqualified because of her actions here,” Priebus said, adding, “Hillary Clinton is politics 24-7, and this is no different.”
Priebus is wrong on one point. This scandal isn’t an automatic disqualifier for Clinton. But it is a red flag for voters. If she tries to avoid talking about Benghazi on her road to the White House, you have to wonder what she won’t want to talk about once she gets there.
Jaclyn Cashman co-hosts “Morning Meeting” on Boston Herald Radio. Follow her on Twitter at @JaclynCashman.
Copyright © 2024 Jaclyn Cashman.
