I’ve been trying to think of any achievements during Hillary’s tenure as Secretary of State. I’m not having much success. I’ve been a Clinton supporter most of my life. I’m just not sure about Hillary.
The Benghazi attack was so terribly mishandled and we did not see decisive leadership from our Secretary of State. Heads should have been rolling within the state department and the truth brought out. Why was our Libya ambassador left so terribly undefended and vulnerable? That didn’t happen and the fault lies squarely on Hillary. If she can’t lead the state dept, then how could she lead a nation?
Are there any notable achievements during her tenure? Did she help or harm her political future?
I haven’t made my mind up about her. But the instant CYA attitude around Benghazi bothers me. I think it could be an insurmountable obstacle for her. The failure to lead in a crises is troubling.
You know she addressed this, right? Some people (four of them, I think) were placed on leave. That was all she could do.
That is definitely what Republicans want you to say. The truth is a little more complicated.
That said, she came very close to being elected based on who she was and what she’d done before she was secretary of state. It’s hard to conclude that four years as secretary of state would be a minus compared to her time in the Senate and everything else she ran on in 2008. And of course you can run on whatever you want. Michele Bachmann ran on general insanity and Herman Cain ran on his experience running a pizza chain that most people seem to agree is awful. Will voters decide it’s good enough to give her the nomination? They might, especially since she was pretty popular in the first place.
My main hesitation about voting for her last time was uncertainty whether she was her own candidate, or if electing her would basically be Bill’s third term. Her stint as SoS firmly established her independent credentials.
The entire Benghazi “scandal” is right-wing bullshit, in my opinion.
Hillary Clinton has firmly established her political acumen in my opinion. If there’s anything that makes me disinclined to support her as a candidate, it would be that she is rather conservative for a democrat. Obama ran on a moderate but still left of Hillary campaign in 2008 and he has left a very sour taste in my mouth with his slide towards a more autocratic conservatism.
The confusion is what role does the Secretary of State play in the state department? Is that person simply attached to it? Or are they in charge and lead it? Bureaucracy plays a big part. Theres a complex chain of command. But I expected Hillary to take charge and lead an investigation. Perhaps even extend her tenure by a year to implement changes.
Natural leaders take charge in a crises. They don’t sidestep that responsibility. Especially someone with thirty years experience in state and Federal experience.
She did. The State Department began a review of the attack in October 2012 and delivered a report in December, which is before she left. There were several other inquiries from Congress and the FBI is also investigating.
There’s plenty of room for criticism here, but I get the sense you’re commenting on Clinton based on vague impressions and didn’t bother to check before you started saying she failed to lead or whatever.
I remember Hillary’s promise on an investigation. The people put on unpaid leave. But never heard the results of that investigation or whats been done to strengthen security. I just didn’t see a firm hand in charge.
Instead we get House hearings thats gone nowhere and politicized it.
I hope she can get this issue resolved during the campaign. Hillary has a lot to offer as President.
I really don’t see a basis to criticize Clinton for the Benghazi attack, or follow up.
Bad things happen from time to time in international relations. I don’t see a failure of leadership here. What would people suggest should have been done differently?
Is Chuck Hagel on the hot seat for the Navy Yard shooting? A lot more Americans died there than Benghazi.
Really, you claim you’re a clinton supporter, but it sounds like you heard something bad about her, then decided she was terrible based on the fact that you didn’t pay attention to all the follow-up she did.
Or you want to blame her for an attack, which was not her fault, and moreover, the lack of security was due to republicans that cut the embassy security budget.
None that will persuade you. Really, everything about her political career is fully documented and just a click away. If you really can’t decide between her and a hypothetical alternative candidate then you aren’t ‘undecided’.
Even “warm” words from Dick Cheney:
[quote“I have a sense that she is one of the more competent members of the current administration and it would be interesting to speculate about how she might perform were she to be president,” he said.[/quote]
That makes me want her as president even more. She didn’t bow to shitty political pressure to make someone pay for a mistake that couldn’t be avoided. I’m still miffed that the Obama administration had to ask for the resignation of that lady who said was quoted out of context about the white farmers. I’m glad Hillary didn’t do that shit, nobody at the State Department deserves to be disciplined for Benghazi because it was unavoidable
This seems like a good time to examine Hillary’s record before the next political race heats up. I voted for Clinton every term for his gubernatorial races and his presidential races. He’s the favorite son that did well. Something of a rarity in Arkansas. We recently had the dubious distinction of being 2nd to last in the poverty scale. We’re not much better on the education rating either.
That doesn’t mean Hillary automatically gets my vote. I’ll look at all the candidates in both parties first. I particularly look for leadership and a clear vision for a Presidency. Someone that knows what they want to do, can articulate it, and knows how to get it done.
Like it or not Benghazi will be an issue. Perhaps even raised by other Democrats in the primary. She better have her response carefully planned and rehearsed. She’s got two years to prepare.
The OP may wish to go back and reread the previous threads on Bengazi, as his statements about the consulate and ambassador’s security, why the ambassador was where he was, who generated the follow-on hysteria and why, and what was subsequently done, are unsupportable by the facts. These questions have all been answered extensively and it’s pointless to start a new thread concerning them. You should stick to discussing the question asked in the thread title.
