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The Spectacle Blog
When Hillary Clinton told Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson “What difference does it make?” during today’s congressional hearing on the Benghazi attacks, she unveiled the slogan for her 2016 presidential campaign.
It’s the story of her life.
What difference does it make if Hillary was named after Sir Edmund Hillary six years before he climbed Mount Everest?
What difference does it make if Hillary wasn’t really under sniper fire in Bosnia?
What difference does it make that tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in Syria over the past two years? Assad is, after all, a “reformer” in Hillary’s eyes.
So if four Americans just happen to be killed in our consulate in Libya on the 11th anniversary of the September 11th attacks what difference does it make to Hillary if our government claims their deaths came about as a result of a spontaneous protest over an internet video?
The reason Hillary can make such an utterance is because none of her shortcomings seem to bother a majority of our populace who continue to hold her in high esteem. Indeed, she has reached the pinnacle of her popularity as two out of every three Americans have a favorable view of the outgoing Secretary of State.
If Hillary can say “what difference does it make” regarding how her fellow Americans were killed in Benghazi without most of us batting an eyelash then she quite reasonably has every expectation to take up residence in the White House in four years time. Should that come to pass it would not speak well of us.
Yet it is is important that Hillary was largely away from American soil during Obama’s first term in her capacity as America’s top diplomat. Absence does make the heart grow fonder. But if Hillary once again becomes part of the rough and tumble of day to day electoral politics and reverts to previous stridence this popularity will undoubtedly diminish. That could make a very big difference in 2016.
View all comments (18) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2013/01/24/hillary-2016-what-difference-d
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RJ| 1.24.13 @ 3:06AM
"What difference does it make?" - Answer - The American people deserve the truth from their government and they didn't get it.
spike59| 1.24.13 @ 5:33AM
i heard, over and over, praise for her remarkable accomplishments as SecState; i've yet to hear anyone list even one of them
Robbins Mitchell| 1.24.13 @ 7:13AM
What difference does it make that Rodham got where she is by spreading her legs for a low bred serial rapist who still can't tell the truth?...she is what she is
itsy_bitsy| 1.24.13 @ 7:17AM
Hilliary's tantrum is a little like the drunk motorist who runs over a pedestrian and then claims "What difference does it make if I ran over him! What we have here a dead pedestrian!"
Bob K| 1.24.13 @ 7:22AM
Leave it to a Journalist (Aaron Goldstein here) to tell us that she has reached "the pinnacle" of her popularity" by citing a recent WAPO/ABC poll!
As the great Canadian Mountie, Dudley Do-Right said: "If it is in the newspaper it must be trooo!"
Aaron Goldstein| 1.24.13 @ 8:28AM
I'm afraid you miss the entire point of this post. It would behoove you to re-read it especially the two subsequent paragraphs which followed my reference to the poll.
Bob K| 1.24.13 @ 7:08PM
If you really think that a Washington Post Poll is the final word on her popularity and the esteem with which she is held by a grateful nation then you should consider spending more time away from the Boston, NYC, Washington DC Axis.
If your post was an exercise in irony and you were talking about "Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics" I will admit to missing it. The Clintons never rose above Lampoon and it is nearly impossible to write about them otherwise.
Indy| 1.24.13 @ 7:46AM
What a pathetic line of questioning by the GOP.
And from the Left it was a lovefest...sickening.
Nancy in NC| 1.24.13 @ 8:25AM
She is a Democrat...what do we expect?
Liars, cheats and corrupt politicians...and we keep electing them. And they're the problem?
Bob Grant| 1.24.13 @ 8:43AM
Think about it. This was THE ONLY chance the opposition had left to ask hard questions of Hillary.
She's gone now!!!
If she decides to run in 4 years, she will be forever wrapped in the safety cocoon of the mainstream media ala Barack Hussein circa 2008, never to be asked anything remotely resembling a difficult question.
This was it folks!
Bandido| 1.24.13 @ 9:13AM
She is going to win hands-down in 2016, in a landslide. She is one of the most ignorant officials ever to hold office in the history of the U.S. Her career is a stain on the American people, who have elevated her far beyond her meager abilities. She will be a worse President than Obama, but the electorate will not care.
BobTheUmp | 1.24.13 @ 10:06AM
She asks, "What difference does it make?", with the impunity of a liberal politician wrapped in the safe embrace of the low information voter. If people were willing to vote for her boss when he told them without equivocation he wanted to turn their country into a place where personal freedom would be seconded to the good of the state then truly, what difference does it make?
www.bobtheump.com
Bandido| 1.24.13 @ 11:11AM
@Bob,
None whatever. The nation's trajectory is down, down, down, and there will be no ascent. This is the will of the people, the general will, which Obama perfectly embodies.
JP| 1.24.13 @ 11:47AM
We still do not know:
a)What the President, Panetta, and Dempsey were doing on the evening of the attack?
b)If the US was running guns to Al Qaida in Syria
c)How the WH and its alcolytes came up with the You-Tube meme in a period of less than 10 hours?
d)Who actually gave the stand-down orders (If the Prez was present in the Situation Room the call would have been his)?
And the Republicans in both Houses show an almost criminal lack of curiosity concerning the entire affair.
Curtis Rasmussen| 1.24.13 @ 3:59PM
I remember her covering up for her serial rapist husband Billy bent-pecker by going after his accusers, all the while claiming to be defenders of women's rights. She married for power, not love, and will put up with Bill until he can no longer benefit her career.
Oh yeah, and Hillarycare. I listened to one of her speeches in it's entirety circa 1990, thought it through that evening, and came to the conclusion that Hillary was one of the most dangerous women in America if she could pull off this Fabian abuse of individual rights. Absolutely insane, never looked at that disgusting pig the same again.
Too bad America has such a short memory.
Occam's Tool| 1.24.13 @ 4:15PM
I can see Hillary or Biden being elected in 2016; after all, America just re-elected a known hater of America who was good friends with a known cop-killer AND a known PLO terrorist.
Americans' Tastes in Leaders since RWR have been up their collective asses.
Crassus| 1.24.13 @ 6:36PM
Don't worry. This fat cow will not become POTUS in 2016. There's a good chance she will be dead by then. Just look at her and you can tell that she's in the process of drinking herself to death. Hell, she spent almost a month in detox before testifying about Benghazi. Don't believe that crap about a blood clot of a second. I can't wait to see Lindsay Lohan portray this fat cow in the Lifetime movie about her life and times.
Brian Richard Allen | 1.24.13 @ 11:04PM
.... two out of every three people in America have a favorable view of the outgoing secretary ....
Thank God only 30% of Americans were needed to effect the desired outcome of the First American War of Independence!
And thank God our numbers are now up and a third of our beloved fraternal republic's population: Armed and willing and ready and able to win our Second Such War!