Con: Benghazi tragedy won’t leave lasting scars on Clinton in 2016
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — EDITOR’S NOTE: The writer is addressing the question, “Will Hillary Clinton’s political hopes be affected by Benghazi?”
It’s possible that Hillary Clinton may decide not to run for president in 2016, but there is very little reason to believe such a decision would be a result of her handling of the Benghazi attacks.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal poll, Clinton is leaving her post as secretary of state with an “eye-popping” 69 percent approval rating.
This is nearly 20 percent higher than President Obama’s average approval rating this month, according to Real Clear Politics, and nearly 50 percent higher than Congress, which the Public Policy Polling firm recently found “is less popular than cockroaches, traffic jams, and even Nickelback.”
If Secretary Clinton’s approval numbers are this high during a month in which she endured a hostile congressional grilling over Benghazi, there is no reason to expect that the incident is going to plague her in any meaningful way.
Furthermore, the historical evidence suggests that Americans are not inclined to punish their leaders for a failure to anticipate and prevent attacks on our citizens.
In the wake of surprise attacks, we tend to be much more interested in national unity than in recriminations, as seen in the case of Pearl Harbor and the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Ronald Reagan won a landslide re-election in 1984 only a year and a half after the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, which killed 241 American servicemen, and George W. Bush was re-elected handily despite having failed to anticipate or prevent the 9/11 attacks—and recall that he had received a memo Aug. 6 titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” While playing the “blame game” is a perennial favorite of politicians, the American people have never demonstrated much enthusiasm for it.
Clinton’s response to Benghazi is another factor working in her favor. Clinton directly answered tough questions from Congress in her recent testimony, and she forcefully argued that the State Department was doing everything within its power to address the problems and to hold the people responsible accountable.
Clinton has not dodged the issue, and she has demonstrated a willingness to accept responsibility for mistakes that were made and to work to fix the problems that have been identified.
Most important, she has not engaged in a cover-up. Historically, this type of response satisfies the American people, and polling suggests that this is the case in this instance as well.
Recent polls from CNN and Fox News confirm that a majority of Americans does not believe there has been a cover-up of the Benghazi incident and a plurality, 49 percent, approves of the administration’s overall handling of foreign policy.
A leader’s legacy is rarely dependent on a single event, regardless of how significant that event may seem at the time.
The continuing confidence that the American people have shown in Clinton’s leadership of the State Department reflects an appreciation of the overall record of success during her tenure, which saw the spread of democracy in North Africa during the Arab Spring and a general restoration of American prestige abroad.
But perhaps the strongest evidence that the Benghazi incident will not harm Secretary Clinton’s legacy is the decisive re-election of President Obama. If Benghazi wasn’t sufficient to prevent Barack Obama’s re-election, despite repeated attempts by the Republicans to make it an issue, it is hard to imagine that it would prevent Hillary Clinton from running in 2016 if she chooses to do so.
Clearly, there is still a significant level of support for Clinton throughout the country and, barring some unexpected revelations in the future, there is little reason to expect that support to diminish due to the Benghazi attacks.
Jim Cottrill is an assistant professor of political science at Santa Clara University. Readers may write to him at SCU, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA., 95053.
Feb 3, 2013 at 11:42 a.m.
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Maynard I agree with you. I believed that Hillary Clinton was the most qualified candidate running for president in 2008, after what happened to John Edwards, the true champion of FAIR TRADE and the American worker - but unable to keep his zipper shut.We needed Hillary's leadership. Had she won, our nation's unemployment would be at normal levels and our economy would be humming today.
I still loathe the liberal left national news media elitists for how THEY decided that a young, inexperienced black Jr. Senator and a community organizor would be a better prsident than Hillary Clinton to be our president.
If his name had been Barry O'Sullivan an Irish white male, the media would crucified him. But he wasn't, was he?
Grudgingly I beleived the national news media knew what they were doing and they convinced me to vote for Obama in 2008. What a mistake!!!
I am fairly certain had Hillary decided to run against Obama for the Democrat president nomination in 2012 she would have won by a landslide. But Obama made sure Hillary couldn't do that by making her his Secretary of State.
Obama needed both Hillary and BILL Clinton to soldify his re-election in 2012. The Clintons got Obama elected to his second term! It doesn't make Obama any smarter, any more experienced, or any more of a national leader than he was in his first term.
Unfortunately, anyone who associates themself with Obama or administration gets tanked. My longtime appeal for Hillary will never be the same after watching her debacle with both the Senate and the House committees last week.
Her disingenuous comments and replies to legitimate questions made me angry and I can never support her again.
Feb 2, 2013 at 7:31 p.m.
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Gandalf: I supported her in 2008 as a very intelligent and capable candidate. Never again. Why? Her statement suggesting it could have been a protest gone awry or A GROUP OF GUYS GOING OUT FOR A WALK THAT DECIDED TO KILL SOME AMERICANS. She admitted that more had to be done and was being done but could not even admit to it being a planned terrorist act this many months after. She got her thanks by the President having her join him on 60 minutes to give her some credibility for 2016. Her statment, paraphased above, and not the "what does it matter" statement throughly disgusted me when I heard it live, does now, and will continue to. I will never support her again even if it means not voting in the 2016 election. Pure partisan politician through and through. I had given her more credit than that at one time. She was, imo, the most qualified running in 2008. I will never consider her in that light again.
Feb 2, 2013 at 4 p.m.
Feb 2, 2013 at 2:19 p.m.
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MrDataMrData..you're hilarious "Sarah Palin was poltically assasinated by the media and discredited as being qualified to be president, though she was eminently more qualifed than Joe Biden was." Every time Sarah Palin opened her mouth she proved over and over again she was a complete bimbo and nothing more than "eye candy" for the slowly diminishing Republican base...angry old white men. Unfortunately, for her she's not even that any longer. She's looking pretty bad these days, probably a contributing factor as to why Roger Ailes let her go, she certainly didn't have anything of substance to offer. Anyone who thinks that Sarah Palin is "eminently more qualified than Joe Biden" has to be of her equal intelligence level, which eliminates any validity to any statements they might make.
Feb 2, 2013 at 1 p.m.
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The ignorant public will be the one's to thank for people like Clinton to receive another free pass. Apathy is the new American mindset.
Feb 2, 2013 at 10:10 a.m.
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Total media coverup. There is a list beyond this. We need real investigations and news reporting.
Feb 2, 2013 at 9:01 a.m.
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Lets see, As stated in the WSJ: Mrs Clinton did not know what was going on in her own dept, is not at the place where critical decisions are being made, is unaware of cables for added security, has no knowlwdge of talking points given out by the White House and denies responsibility for secutity lapses. Sounds like gross negligence of duty that resulted in the deaths of four brave Americans. Artful dodging is not leadership and it does matter overall.
Feb 2, 2013 at 8:57 a.m.
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Carter 2.0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Dubs...
Feb 2, 2013 at 7:39 a.m.
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I doubt that this matters.
Feb 2, 2013 at 6:51 a.m.
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With today's media culture is it any wonder some sheep think all will be forgotten. Sadly they are just pawns, learning only information professional "journolistssss" allow.
"In one instance, Spencer Ackerman of the Washington Independent urged his colleagues to deflect attention from Obama's relationship with Wright by changing the subject. Pick one of Obama's conservative critics, Ackerman wrote, "Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares -- and call them racists."
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/07/20/...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc/wa...
http://dailycaller.com/2010/06/25/washin...
Feb 2, 2013 at 6:38 a.m.
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MrData said, "if Hillary, or anyone, associated with the Obama admninistration runs for the Presidency in 2016 Benghazi will be an open matter that will haunt them throughout their 2016 campaign. And people will learn the truth and become disgusted about it."
Just like Obama was "haunted" by his birth certificate and religion, right MrData? You're right about ONE thing. The people became disgusted with the truthers and tea party Republicans once they learned the truth. They did Romney/Ryan no favors.
Feb 2, 2013 at 6:30 a.m.
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MrData said, " We have all seen our first black President fall flat on his face due to his incomptetence."
All? So presumptuous as to speak for everyone, MrData? The persons I saw falling flat on their faces, mouths agape, were Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan on election night, due, in large part, to their incompetence.
Feb 1, 2013 at 9:42 a.m.
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Hillary Clinton's time was in 2008. That was to be the era of women in major political roles; ie, Hillary should have been the Democrat Party presidential candidate; Sarah Palin was selected to be the Republican party's VP candidate.
We all saw how the national news media back then treated these women. Horribly.
Hillary is now too old, too fat, in too bad of health, and has too many skeletons in her political closet to ever get elected. She'd be political fodder and her candidacy would single handedly resurrect the viability of the Republican party!
Hillary was debunked in favor of an inexperienced unqualified black candidate from Illinois. Sarah Palin was poltically assasinated by the media and discreditted as being qualified to be president, though she was eminently more qualifed than Joe Biden was.
In 2008 those in the media didn't like or trust women being in the White House. Shows just how biggotted and ignorant the national lamestream media (NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, PBS) is.
We have all seen our first black President fall flat on his face due to his incomptetence. In order to save their own hides the national media jerks give this presidential failure a pass on every mistake he makes .... including his foreign policy fiasco and how he's blundered dealing with the Arab Spring.
Benghazi happened. It's a fact. Even if no one in the national news media (who themselves are all complicit with the deaths of the 4 Americans killed in Benghazi) don't want to talk about it; it cannot be covered up.
If Hillary, or anyone, associated with the Obama admninistration runs for the Presidency in 2016 Benghazi will be an open matter that will haunt them throughout their 2016 campaign. And people will learn the truth and become disgusted about it.
Feb 1, 2013 at 2:44 a.m.
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Just like Obama, made of Teflon because nothing sticks to them. Not all questions were asked so Americans will never know what really happened during the attack...like where was everyone and why no action was taken. "What differnce does it make...?" Say that to the family members of those 4 brave Americans that died, Ms. Clinton. Sleep well at night, do you?! Karma's a b*tch.
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