[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="960"]
In this image taken from video obtained from Voice Of Jihad Website, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl sits in a vehicle guarded by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban have released a video showing the handover of Bergdahl to U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan. The video, emailed to media on Wednesday, shows Bergdahl in traditional Afghan clothing sitting in a pickup truck parked on a hillside. More than a dozen Taliban fighters with machine guns stand around the truck and on the hillside. (AP Photo/Voice Of Jihad Website via AP video)[/caption]
Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl officially became an issue in the 2016 presidential race this week when Hillary Clinton backed the president’s reckless swap for the soldier with the Taliban.
It looks good for both President Obama and Clinton, the presumed front-runner for her party, that the Democrats stopped the war in Afghanistan and left no one on the battlefield, Christopher Bedford, managing editor at dailycaller.com, told Herald Radio.
What doesn’t look so good is the coincidence that the president did not initially disclose his lunch date with the former Secretary of State last week.
People Magazine leaked the lunch date on Twitter by posting a picture of Clinton with a member of the magazine just prior to her visit to the White House: “People’s @sswestfall chats w/@hillaryClinton before mtg at the WH. Hope we didn’t make her late for @BarackObama.”
The meeting was not on the president’s public schedule. The White House pool reporter, Roll Call’s Steven T. Dennis, filed a complaint with the White House for not disclosing this private lunch at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
“It was an informal lunch. It wasn’t … like an official thing. It was just lunch,” the press corps was told.
Right, just lunch. So what do you suppose they talked about?
Many critics are speculating that Obama told Clinton that he was in negotiations with the Taliban to get Bergdahl back and it would be nice to have her support — in case of any fallout.
The prisoner swap has backfired on the president. Bergdahl could face charges as a deserter, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday.
And the president did not run the swap by members of Congress, which is a controversy unto itself. His staff is out apologizing for that now. But if the accusations are true that Clinton knew before Congress, it needs to be investigated.
Here’s Clinton’s statement Monday defending the president’s move: “This young man, whatever the circumstances, was an American citizen — is an American citizen — was serving in our military. The idea that you really care for your own citizens and particularly those in uniform, I think is a very noble one.”
Bergdahl may have been the last U.S. soldier held captive in Afghanistan, but Clinton has now guaranteed his release will extend well into the presidential primaries.
Jaclyn Cashman is co-host of “Morning Meeting” on Boston Herald Radio. Follow her on twitter at @JaclynCashman.
Copyright © 2024 Jaclyn Cashman.
