Sunday, February 18, 2007

Hillary on Iraq War Vote - I'm not sorry


Who's not sorry now? Hillary Clinton is not sorry for her vote and is not apologizing for it. Instead, she's calling for a 90 day redelopyment - an end to the war.

R "Now it's time to say the redeployment should start in 90 days or the Congress will revoke authorization for this war," the New York senator said in a video on her campaign Web site, repeating a point included in a bill she introduced on Friday.

She's played a trump card, of sorts, by calling the bluff of her critics and saying - Hey, you don't like what I did and why - vote for someone else. Very shrewd, indeed. We think it will work.

NYT “If the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that vote or has said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from,” Mrs. Clinton told an audience in Dover, N.H., in a veiled reference to two rivals for the nomination, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina.

Finally, we do believe she's playing to a broader audience - the world leaders she will be working with as President of the United States and Commander in Chief

NYT Yet her motivation not to apologize goes deeper than that, advisers said. Her approach to leadership and national security was forged during her eight years in the White House: She believes in executive authority and Congressional deference, her advisers say, and is careful about suggesting that Congress can overrule a commander in chief.

“She thinks she will be president and will have to negotiate on the nation’s behalf with world leaders,” said one Clinton adviser. “She thinks we’re likely to still be in this mess in 2009, and coming onto the campaign trail and groveling and saying at every opportunity that you made a mistake doesn’t actually help you solve the problem.”