With Hillary Clinton incommunicado for over a month (other than a few questions at one event which were answered with what amounted to rehearsed talking points), the only presidential hopefuls to ask anything of are Republicans…
….which is pretty clearly a source of great glee to many media people, as they play “gotcha” with one after another of them, while (with few exceptions) have no problem at all with Ms. Clinton ignoring them like so many whining children.
One of the ways media have gone after Republicans is to ask this question: “Knowing what you know now, would you have gone into Iraq in 2003?”
That, readers, is a very fair question and should be asked of everyone. And, amazingly, it has taken a major toll on Jeb Bush, who seems to have a different answer, or coloration of an answer, every day. This has significantly tarnished Mr. Bush\’s credibility (i.e. if he isn\’t prepared for a question like that, which – given that his brother ordered the invasion – was absolutely, uneqivocally going to be asked, how can he deal with issues that are not right in front of his eyes?)
But asking about the Iraq invasion is not the only “hindsight” question that should be asked.
Jeff Jacoby, in his latest (typically excellent) column, has suggested three others, which – if they ever get the opportunity – media should be asking of Hillary Clinton as well as Republicans. Here they are:
Would the men and women campaigning for president today have signed the Iraq Liberation Act, as President Clinton did in 1998, thereby making Saddam\’s removal from power a matter of explicit US policy?
With 20/20 hindsight, would they have ended the Gulf War after just 100 hours, as President George H. W. Bush did in 1991? Would they, like the first President Bush, have explicitly encouraged the Iraqi people to overthrow Saddam – but then, when Kurds and Shi\’ites heeded his call, done nothing to stop the dictator from savagely crushing the uprising?
Or take the more recent decision, by President Obama in 2011, to pull all American troops from Iraq, rather than negotiate a new Status of Forces agreement to maintain a substantial US military presence. That wholesale withdrawal – which was also widely supported at the time – created a vacuum that ISIS and Iran have filled with blood and terror. Knowing what we know now, would the candidates have brought those troops home?
Those are three excellent questions. I would love to hear every candidate answer them – with real, heartfelt answers, rather than premeditated, concocted, boilerplate garbage from a team of political consultants, that means less than nothing.
If we\’re going to play the hindsight game, let\’s play on more than one side of the board. And the sooner mainstream media demands that Queen Hillary get into the game, the better it will be.
