My take on Hillary Clinton's motives in breaking with Obama on foreign policy

[karynnj]

44. True, but there are ways to do that that do not reduce to

Obama is at fault for the growth of ISIS - which was where she is.

However, that can and will be addressed on many levels:

- as policy - here, on Obama's side, you have many examples of the aid given having ended up, through either incompetence or betrayal, with ISIS. Imagine we would have gone in to the level McCain wanted (he has been clearer than HRC) I am horrified to think how I would feel if it were Obama (and likely Kerry) in a position like Putin's where the arms they gave were used to down a plane of innocent passengers. Not to mention, the brilliant 1980 strategy of arming the enemies of our enemies bore very bitter fruits.

To agree with HRC's position, You would have to argue that had we done more, faster, that it would have led to the fall of Assad and the formation of a reasonable government. It assumes, that Assad was weaken then than now OR that the rebels, with our help, would have have been significantly stronger than the combined forces against Assad now. In fact, that was BEFORE the horrendous levels of atrocities that occurred in the last 3 years. A ssad was more popular and stronger then than now.

- policy for domestic politics Ignoring my abhorrence at the idea that we would do things differently because of how it plays politically, it is reality. If so, I am surprised she did this now. The wheel is still in spin and this COULD be the darkest moment. If the Obama team is able to thread some of these very tricky needles and get things moving in a better direction, she may regret having attacked him on Iran, Israel, Iraq and Syria. It is hard to then turn around and try to claim any credit based on what happened while you were Secretary of State.

Polling does NOT show the US favors a position of staying in Iraq ( http://pollingreport.com/iraq.htm - in fact, IF later polling increases - especially for Democrats- the blame assessed to Obama vs Bush, would it be fair to blame HRC for splintering the Democrats?), Syria (where even after chemical weapons were used, around 10% favored US involvement.), and Iran, where Obama's position has majority support in spite of intense lobbying otherwise ( http://pollingreport.com/iran.htm )


Here, at the brink of the 2014 elections, she gave these comments that could splinter the Democratic party on foreign policy going into the election. On each of these 4 issues, she has aided the McCain/Graham position over Obama's. Is this what we need with the Senate at stake? ( Note that on Israel, she is really playing politics - almost equating being against Netanyahu's position as antisemitism. ) If these were her deeply held beliefs, why not at least wait until after the election to state them? I assume that if the Democrats do worse than expected in 2014, she feels the blame will fall just on Obama.

- How this could play in defining Hillary Clinton as a person. For a person known as well as she has been since 1992, it is surprising that some actions by Hillary in 2006 - 2008 DID change how she was perceived. From the 1990s, I know I always saw her as more principled and a better person than Bill Clinton. I was surprised and disheartened by opportunist things she did - which I think hurt her more than helped her. I SAW some early Clinton supporters, pause when she stabbed Kerry, who really was not a threat to her, in the back the way she did.

For many people, for whom choosing the President, might be more personality than issues - especially complex ones with no obvious answers, I wonder whether this will seem an unsavory thing to do with a President who GAVE her the strategic Secretary of State position and has since she left, treated her with honor and respect. It may show that while selecting her might have kept the Clintons in some control while she was President, the down side is that she is willing to attack him when he is down - even if it is 3 months before a critical election! To me, it makes it clearer that, like Bill Clinton, all she thinks about is herself. The F.Scott Fitzgerald Great Gatsby descriptor of "careless people" may fit both.