Monday night, suddenly and without warning, Hurricane Hillary hit every shore of the United States from a location in Peru.
On CNN to Elise Labott:
QUESTION:
You say you don’t want to play the blame game, but certainly there’s a
blame game going on in Washington. In fact, during the presidential
debate, Vice President Biden said, “We didn’t know.” White House
officials calling around saying, “Hey, this is a State Department
function.” Are they throwing you under the bus?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Oh, of course not. Look, I take responsibility. I’m in charge of the
State Department, 60,000-plus people all over the world, 275 posts. The
President and the Vice President certainly wouldn’t be knowledgeable
about specific decisions that are made by security professionals.
They’re the ones who weigh all of the threats and the risks and the
needs and make a considered decision.
That this came
the night before a presidential debate some thought significant. Others
considered it high time someone in the administration stepped up with a
definitive statement of responsibility. The probability that this
issue would arise in the debate the next evening loomed, and many
expected Mitt Romney to be the one to inject it. That is not, however,
the way the debate rolled out. It was a question from the audience
that brought up the topic, and in his response, Romney focused not on
the secretary of state or responsibility, but rather on the president,
the White House, and their remarks on the cause.
Hmmmmmm ...
some of us thought Romney might take this opportunity to grandstand -
make a "buck will stop with me" sort of statement. He did not.
Instead he remained locked on the confusion that emanated from the
White House for weeks following the Benghazi attack.
Just when it appeared that Hurricane Hillary was not going to hit Long Island, the moderator chimed in.
CROWLEY: Because we're - we're closing in, I want to still get
a lot of people in. I want to ask you something, Mr. President, and
then have the governor just quickly.
Your secretary of state, as I'm sure you know, has said that she
takes full responsibility for the attack on the diplomatic mission in
Benghazi. Does the buck stop with your secretary of state as far as what went on here?
Aha! Now that was along the lines of what we expected from Romney. It provided Obama the opportunity for this response.
OBAMA: Secretary Clinton has done an extraordinary job. But she works for me. I'm the president and I'm always responsible, and that's why nobody's more interested in finding out exactly what happened than I do.
The
day after the attack, governor, I stood in the Rose Garden and I told
the American people in the world that we are going to find out exactly
what happened. That this was an act of terror and I also said that we're
going to hunt down those who committed this crime.
And then a few days later, I was there greeting the caskets coming into Andrews Air Force Base and grieving with the families.
And the
suggestion that anybody in my team, whether the Secretary of State, our
U.N. Ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when
we've lost four of our own, governor, is offensive. That's not what we do. That's not what I do as president, that's not what I do as Commander in Chief.
Wait
a minute. What was that? Someone was playing politics? Where did that
come from? Who said anyone was playing politics? Romney did not. In fact he did not take this bait . He never mentioned the secretary of state at all! Oh
wait! Someone had ... earlier in the day. It came from the Obama
camp.
By Justin Sink - 10/16/12 05:00 PM ET
Obama
campaign traveling press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that Hillary
Clinton's statement Monday night that she was taking responsibility for
the attack on the American diplomatic mission in Libya was "absolutely
not" a political move to shield the president.
"President Obama
takes responsibility for the safety and security of all diplomats
serving overseas," Psaki told Fox News. "Secretary Clinton, of course,
has a great amount of responsibility as Secretary of State and she was
doing interviews yesterday as she often does on the first day of a
foreign trip and said, 'Look, we do own, the State Department does own
decisions around funding for diplomats.' ”
Read more >>>>
So
for weeks no one in the administration accepts responsibility for
whatever security lapses might have failed to sustain two stations in
Benghazi and their occupants (arguably perhaps nothing and no force
could have held off that attack). The Secretary of State steps up to
the plate and says it is her department, they are her people and her
structures, and she is responsible for them. The administration's
reaction, rather than taking a positive and supportive stand, is
negative - a denial. She is
not playing politics. First from Psaki, then from Obama, and a little while ago Ohio State Senator Nina Turner.
There is something disingenuous in the denial. First Psaki, then Obama:
"President Obama takes responsibility for the safety and security of all diplomats serving overseas," Psaki told Fox News.
"Secretary Clinton has done an extraordinary job. But she
works for me. I'm the president and I'm always responsible...."
Arguments
about what precipitated the attack aside, if Obama accepts
responsibility, why did he not say so until after Secretary Clinton did
so? In fact, why did he send a spokesperson out to say it before we
heard it from him in the debate last night?
There is a ring of familiarity to this.
- 2008
primary debates: Hillary got the hard questions first, and Obama's
frequent refrain was "Senator Clinton is right about that."
- 2009:
HRC holds a town hall meeting at the State Department (February, I
think). Someone asks if she would consider extending benefits to
domestic partners of employees. She promises to look into it. In June,
she comes back to the LGBT association at the department and announces
that they studied the possibility, found it doable, and were going ahead
and extending the bennies. Months later Obama does the same at the
White House.
- Earlier this year Joe Biden said he has no problem
with gay marriage. First everyone freaks. There's old Joe again
shooting his mouth off. Second some wonder how Joe cane so definitive
on tis issues while Obama claims to be evolving. Days later, Obama
finally evolves.
This is a pattern. Yes, we knew about this
well before Obama was nominated in 2008. At the time, many of us
thought this indicated a lack of imagination and absence of real
plans. Today, it indicates something even more serious, a
Commander-in-Chief who not only leads from behind, but leads only on
second thought. And he is out there right now asking for your vote. As
Uppity Woman has been reminding us lately, you coulda had a V-8.
We
continue to accord Mme. Secretary a standing ovation for her courage,
maturity, and professionalism in stepping up on this. Someone had to,
and, as you said, Mme. Secretary, it
is your department. Until you said it, apparently the president forgot the hierarchy.
FTR Mr. Obama: You do not write her paycheck. The American people
do. She works for us, not for you. Very interesting phraseology in
contrast to what she said about State Department staff.
Look, I take responsibility. I’m in charge of the State Department, 60,000-plus people all over the world, 275 posts.
She knows for whom she and they work.
The transcript of the debate is available
here.
