What foreign policy moment would you point to in Hillary's career where she's been tested by crisis?

[flpoljunkie]

February 29, 2008

Pregnant Pause

It was, in this reporter's opinion, the most interesting moment in today's Clinton campaign phoner with reporters. Responding to the release of HRC's new TX TV ad, which asserts in no subtle terms that only she has the experience to deal with a major world crisis, and, relatedly, to keep your children safe, Slate's John Dickerson asked the obvious question:

"What foreign policy moment would you point to in Hillary's career where she's been tested by crisis?" he said.

Silence on the call. You could've knit a sweater in the time it took the usually verbose team of Mark Penn, Howard Wolfson and Lee Feinstein, Clinton's national security director, to find a cogent answer. And what they came up with was weak -- that she's been endorsed by many high ranking members of the uniformed military.

Take a listen ...

[JimGinPA]

1. Don't Look For Hillary Supporters Here To Have Answers...

I've been trying to get a logical response to her experience argument against McCain. Crickets.

[flpoljunkie]

2. They cannot answer because they have no answer.

[sueragingroz]

7. How about this?

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Senator Clinton worked with her colleagues to secure the funds New York needed to rebuild. She fought to provide compensation to the families of the victims, grants for hard-hit businesses, and health care for front line workers at Ground Zero. She continues to work for resources that enable New York to grow, to improve homeland security for New York and other communities, and to protect all Americans from future attacks. She has introduced legislation to provide for direct and threat-based homeland security funding to ensure that first responders and high-target communities have the resources they need.

In 2004, Senator Clinton was asked by the Department of Defense to serve as the only Senate member of the Transformation Advisory Group to the Joint Forces Command. She has visited troops in Iraq and Afghanistan; at Fort Drum in New York, home of the 10th Mountain Division; and at Walter Reed Military Hospital to learn first hand the challenges facing American combat forces. She is an original sponsor of legislation that expanded health benefits to members of the National Guard and Reserves.

From http://www.senate.gov/~clinton/about/biography/index.cfm

[flpoljunkie]

9. Commendable, but not a test in a time of crisis.

[sueragingroz]

12. neither 9/11 nor Iraq are a crisis

Ok...

[flpoljunkie]

15. Guess I missed where Hillary was in charge on 9/11, but she did vote for Bush's Iraq War

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. That's domestic, not foreign policy.

Just cuz our soldiers are overseas, talking to them is not dealing with foreign policy.

And Homeland Security is a scam. 99% of what they have accomplished could have been done just as well with the previous agencies, and what they have NOT accomplished - securing our ports, inspectiing shipping containers, securing the borders, securing nuclear facilities and nuclear waste storage, securing chemical plants, securing chemical shipements by truck and train... Do I need to go on?

You went to her own web site, and that's the best you can do?

[anonymous171]

3. She has very little executive experience. nt

[HooptieWagon]

4. Well, she's been tested by crisis inre her campaign...

... and handled it exceedingly poor. Based on her campaign, she'd make a lousy president, perhaps as bad as * (lying, cronyism, cuddling up to corporate interests, incompetence, shoot the messenger, incapable of listening to differing opinions, fake/staged events, incapable of listening to the people - sound like anyone we know, or shall I go on?).

[HooptieWagon]

6. oops, OP said foreign policy

her only foreign policy experience was attending an international woman's conference in beijing - was that a crisis?

[New Dawn]

5. She failed the test.

Two words: Iraq War.

[HooptieWagon]

8. True that, she's 0-1 then

I sure don't want her answering the phone...

[Lucinda]

11. She has said that NONE of them have that kind of executive experience

And they don't. Obama doesn't, McCain doesn't, and she doesnt either, other than being there as First lady which isnt comparable to being the one responsible.

So you look to other crisis management situations to see how they have responded. She did very well in NY.

[HooptieWagon]

14. "She did very well in NY."

True that, at least she never voted to declare war on Conneticut....

[Recursion]

17. OK, what's an example?

What was a high-stakes, unexpected, time-limited decision she had to make as Senator from NY?

[C_U_L8R]

13. but hey.. she knows how to answer a phone

[mattclearing]

16. She failed that test when she voted for the IWR.

Clearly the only such instance they have, and everyone knows it's a negative for her.

[Skidmore]

18. But, but, but.... she gave a speech in China.

[psychopomp]

19. How is it that they were not ready for this question?

Seriously, it makes one wonder how Sen. Clinton's campaign would be doing if she were not surrounded by such unskilled, overpriced advisers.

A great comment from the link:

"This is hilarious in its revelatory nature. Ten minutes of hemming, hawing and absolute nothing from the campaign team that brought you the scoop on Barack Obama's scandalous kindergarten essays." -B202

[kdpeters]

20. Wow! So I guess the answer is that she has no foreign policy experience

that tested her and prepared her to deal with a national security crisis. That's a lot of talk she's been doing to have nothing prepared for the obvious question. What a bunch of dumbasses!!

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

21. Weak Sauce to be sure...

[NorthernSpy]

22. she's botched the only foreign policy crisis ever tossed in her lap...

And that one -- the IWR -- didn't require either a truly immediate response on her part, or a lonely decision as a solitary executive.


And she still blew it. She didn't even do any independent research on the question.



Sorry, Hillary. We have our answer on this.