[Oe List ...] More about Hillary

Thu Feb 15 14:45:57 EST 2007

Thank you
Paula


On 2/15/07, Wilson Priscilla <pwilson at teamtechinc.com> wrote:
>
> To add to the conversation about Hillary. David Brooks is usually more
> conservative than I am...so interesting writing.
>
>
>
> *February 15, 2007*
> *OP-ED COLUMNIST*
>
> *No Apology Needed*
> *By **DAVID BROOKS*<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/davidbrooks/index.html?inline=nyt-per>
>
> Far be it from me to get in the middle of a liberal purge, but would
> anybody mind if I pointed out that the calls for Hillary Clinton to
> apologize for her support of the Iraq war are almost entirely bogus?
>
> I mean, have the people calling for her apology actually read the speeches
> she delivered before the war? Have they read her remarks during the war
> resolution debate, when she specifically rejected a pre-emptive, unilateral
> attack on Saddam? Did they read the passages in which she called for a
> longer U.N. inspections regime and declared, "I believe international
> support and legitimacy are crucial"?
>
> If they went back and read what Senator Clinton was saying before the war,
> they'd be surprised, as I was, by her approach. And they'd learn something,
> as I did, about what kind of president she would make.
>
> The Iraq war debate began in earnest in September 2002. At that point
> Clinton was saying in public what Colin Powell was saying in private:
> emphasizing the need to work through the U.N. and build a broad coalition
> to enforce inspections.
>
> She delivered her Senate resolution speech on Oct. 10. It was Clintonian
> in character. On the one hand, she rejected the Bush policy of pre-emptive
> war. On the other hand, she also rejected the view that the international
> community "should only resort to force if and when the United Nations
> Security Council approves it." Drawing on the lessons of Bosnia, she said
> sometimes the world had to act, even if the big powers couldn't agree.
>
> She sought a third way: more U.N. resolutions, more inspections, more
> diplomacy, with the threat of force reserved as a last resort. She was
> triangulating, but the Senate resolution offered her a binary choice. She
> voted yes in order to give Powell bipartisan leverage at the U.N.
>
> This is how she's always explained that vote, and I confess that until
> now, I've regarded her explanation as a transparent political dodge. Didn't
> everyone know this was a war resolution? But now, having investigated her
> public comments, I think diplomatic leverage really was on her mind. I also
> know, from a third person, that she was spending a lot of time with Powell
> and wanted to help.
>
> On Nov. 8, 2002, the Security Council passed a unanimous resolution
> threatening Saddam with "serious consequences" if he didn't disarm.
>
> The next crucial period came in March 2003, as the U.S. battled France
> over the second Security Council resolution. Clinton's argument at this
> point was that inspections were working and should be given more time. "It
> is preferable that we do this in a peaceful manner through coercive
> inspection," she said on March 3, but went on, "At some point we have to be
> willing to uphold the United Nations resolutions." Then she added, "This is
> a very delicate balancing act."
>
> On March 17, Bush gave Saddam 48 hours to disarm or face attack. Clinton
> tried to be critical of the Bush policy while being deferential to the
> office of the presidency. She clearly had doubts about Bush's timing, but
> she kept emphasizing that from her time in the White House, she knew how
> unhelpful it was for senators to be popping off in public on foreign policy.
>
> At one press event in New York, she nodded when Charles Rangel said Bush
> had failed at the U.N. But when reporters asked Clinton to repeat what
> Rangel had just said, she bit her tongue. On March 17, as U.S. troops
> mobilized, she issued her strongest statement in support of the effort.
>
> Clinton's biggest breach with the liberal wing actually opened up later,
> in the fall of 2003. Most liberals went into full opposition, wanting to see
> Bush disgraced. Clinton — while an early critic of the troop levels, the
> postwar plans and all the rest — tried to stay constructive. She wanted to
> see America and Iraq succeed, even if Bush was not disgraced.
>
> When you look back at Clinton's thinking, you don't see a classic war
> supporter. You see a person who was trying to seek balance between opposing
> arguments. You also see a person who deferred to the office of the
> presidency. You see a person who, as president, would be fox to Bush's
> hedgehog: who would see problems in their complexities rather than in their
> essentials; who would elevate procedural concerns over philosophical ones;
> who would postpone decision points for as long as possible; and who would
> make distinctions few heed.
>
> Today, the liberal wing of the Democratic Party believes that the world,
> and Hillary Clinton in particular, owes it an apology. If she apologizes,
> she'll forfeit her integrity. She will be apologizing for being herself.
>
>
>
>
>
>  Priscilla Wilson
> TeamTech Press
> Mission Hills, KS 66208
> pwilson at teamtechinc.com
>
>
>
>
>
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>


-- 
Paula
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