When someone writes a commentary about a political figure who has accomplished things, that person lists out the specific accomplishments.
When someone writes a commentary about a political figure who does not have accomplishments, that person says things like “he fought for” or “she championed”. or “he led the charge” or “she was a tireless supporter of”, etc. In other words, BS that is supposed to fool you into thinking there were accomplishments when, in fact, there were not.
This leads me straight to yesterday\’s commentary about Hillary Clinton, by Eleni Kounalakis, which appeared at cnn.com.
Click here to read it all, but let me give you a representative sampling of what you will see:
Her record of achievement is as diverse as it is historic. Clinton pushed hard for the United States to “pivot” to Asia. She established the tough sanctions against Iran that led to the recently signed nuclear agreement. She shined a light on the plight of Burmese political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi, helping to orchestrate her release.
These are all historic achievements. But to name any one, single event of Clinton\’s tenure is to overlook her most important contribution: rebuilding America\’s relationships with friends, allies and partners around the world.
There you go. There\’s four years\’ worth.
-She pushed hard to pivot to Asia (anyone know what that means?)
-She established the tough sanctions against Iran (anyone have even the slightest idea what Hillary Clinton had to do with establishing sanctions against Iran? I acknowedge that she was a proponent of tough sanctions, but what, specifically, did she do to implement them? Kounalakis doesn\’t say…because she doesn\’t have anything to say.)
-She shone a light on a Burmese political prisoner which helped orchestrate her release (Do you know a thing about this? What “light” did she shine, and just how much did Hillary Clinton have to do with it. Is the release of one prisoner in one country a major biggie for an entire term as Secretary Of State?)
-But, most of all she rebuilt America\’s relationships with friends, allies and partners around the world (other than Iran and Cuba, both of whose leaders are laughing all the way because of how much they got and how little they gave, can you name five countries on the planet we have better relations with now than we did the day Hillary Clinton and her boss Barack Obama took office? Three? ONE?)
Did you ever see such a pile of mung in your life?
Oh, I forgot to mention: with a nod to John Hinderaker at powerlineblog.com, it turns out that Eleni Kounalakis, the hard-hitting, fiercely neutral writer of this love letter, was a bundler for Hillary Clinton, who raised over $1,000,000 for her 2008 campaign – and, I have no doubt, either will do the same this time around or already has. That\’s a little something CNN somehow forgot to disclose when they published her huggy-bear kissy-face paean to the greatness of The Hillary.
Shame on CNN for putting this on its web page without explaining who Ms. Kounalakis is, thus explaining her unrelenting cheerleading for someone who did so little as Secretary of State.
