On New Years Eve Hillary Clinton is far removed from the lofty status of her presidential campaign and subsequent selection as Barack Obama’s Secretary of State.
Dogged by political failures and hospitalized with a blood clot, she is set to limp away from the Obama administration with a resume that reads more like an exotic travel brochure than confirmation of her ability to lead.
Relations between the U.S. and Middle East ally Israel has hit a new low and Arab Spring has launched a new wave of Muslim radicalism in the Middle East including the destruction of the U.S. Libyan Embassy and subsequent murder of its ambassador, Chris Stevens, and three Navy Seals. Relations with Russia, North Korea and China are strained, and Iran has continued to prepare to nuke up right under the state department's proverbial nose.
Meanwhile, about the only good news for Clinton concerning her department's handling of security in Benghazi is that Senate investigators were careful not to call her out personally - even though she is the Secretary of State. Low-level aides dutifully fell on their swords early on, and are probably waiting to be reassigned for their loyalty in 2013.
The Senate assessment comes on the heels of a scathing report by an independent State Department accountability review board that resulted in a security official and three others at the department stepping down.
While having a blood clot is potentially fatal and Clinton really may not have known what was happening in Benghazi under her leadership, the fact is that the Clintons, Bill and Hillary, are not known for their discretion or public honesty, which has led pundits to pontificate that Hillary feigned all or part of her concussion-linked health issues. After all, the long-scheduled Senate investigation on Benghazi where she was to testify did coincide with doctor’s orders for her to stay home.
"With Osama bin Laden dead and core al Qaeda weakened, a new collection of violent Islamist extremist organizations and cells have emerged in the last two to three years," the Senate report said. That trend has been seen in the "Arab Spring" countries undergoing political transition or military conflict,” it said.
The question is, why did it take the death of an ambassador and destruction of an embassy for the U.S. State Department to figure out what the rest of the world knew from watching nightly news?
That is the question that will linger as Clinton hopefully enjoys a speedy and full recovery.
Should Clinton run for President in 2016, results of the Independent and Senate investigations of the state department under her tenure may prove difficult to spin, especially so if Obama doesn’t bless her campaign in the primaries.
Comments