THE only new information gleaned from Hillary Clinton's Congressional
hearing on the September, 2012 attack on the American diplomatic
compound in Benghazi, Libya, is that she loves Indian food, which she
promptly ordered after her 11-hour ordeal on October 22!
Four Americans, including the US Ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher
Stevens, a friend of then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, died in
the attack by Islamic militants. Secretary Clinton took responsibility
for the security lapses. This was the eighth hearing on the Benghazi
attack held by the majority Congressional Republicans, the second with
Hillary as the witness.
The Congressional Republicans invested enormous amount of time, and
taxpayers' money hoping to destroy Clinton's presidential aspirations
through the Benghazi hearings. Things did not quite go their way.
Actually, the hearing was doomed before it started.
In Washington, a gaffe is defined as the truth a politician utters
unwittingly. On September 29, Republican Majority Leader in the House of
Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, presented Hillary with the ultimate
gift of gaffe. McCarthy told Fox News: "Everybody thought Hillary
Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special
committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers
are dropping. Why? Because she's untrustworthy. But no one would have
known any of that had happened had we not fought." To the chagrin of
the Republicans, New York Republican Congressman, Richard Hanna, backed
McCarthy's inadvertent admission, stressing that the Benghazi panel was
designed to target Clinton.
Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state, testified before the House Select Committee on Benghazi. Photo: AFP
The latest Benghazi hearing was doomed to fail. Republicans'
expectations were a pie in the sky. They hoped to prove the
preposterous: that Hillary Clinton was negligent at best, and in
collusion with the militants at worst! The fact is, after the killing
of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya was a dangerous place. But when the US
Embassy in Libya requested funding for more security, it was the
Republicans in Congress that denied the request.
Republicans also attempted to make hay with Hillary's personal email
server. They hoped to prove that Clinton compromised national security
by using a personal email server at home. That “indiscretion” will land
Hillary in jail, predicted the “savant” Ben Carson. The fact is no
national security was breached. Every reasonable person could relate to
what Clinton did; she took work home, for which she should be
commended, not condemned!
The actual hearing was full of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Republican Congressmen were rude to Hillary. It was more an inquisition
than an inquiry. Republicans hoped that their verbal assault would
intimidate Hillary. But, they forgot that they were dealing with a
two-term US Senator from New York, and a very successful one-term
Secretary of State. Hillary deftly parried their blows, and sometimes
like AB de Villiers, hit the ball for a six!
The Republicans stretched the hearing to 11 hours, hoping that
Hillary would tire, and like Zinedine Zidane's head-butt in the extra
time of the 2006 World Cup final, do or say something dumb. No such
luck! Hillary kept her composure in the face of incessant insults. Even
the Republican frontrunner Donald Trump conceded that the hearing was
partisan. At the end of the hearing, the Chairman of the Benghazi panel,
Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy, admitted that nothing new transpired
from the latest Benghazi hearing. In other words, it was a walkover for
Hillary Clinton!
With the two road blocks – Benghazi hearing and email controversy –
removed, Hillary Clinton's path to the Democratic Party's presidential
nomination is now smooth. She has token opposition: former Maryland
governor Martin O'Malley, and the independent Senator from Vermont,
Bernie Sanders. Nationally, O'Malley polls around 5 percent among
Democrats, Sanders around 31 percent and Hillary Clinton around 62
percent. That is in sharp contrast with the latest poll of Republican
candidates which finds Ben Carson at 29 percent, Donald Trump at 23
percent, Marco Rubio at 11 percent, Ted Cruz at 10 percent and Jeb Bush
at 8 percent. While the Republican field shows no clear leader, Hillary
Clinton is a frontrunner among Democrats.
Hillary Clinton should not celebrate just yet. Eight years ago,
Hillary was labelled “the inevitable nominee” with a commanding lead.
Then Barack Obama happened. It is incredible how super intelligent
people can make dumb mistakes.
Many people who watched then Illinois State Senator Barack Hussein
Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston at
the invitation of the nominee John Kerry (when Obama said: “We are not
Republican America or Democratic America, black America or white
America; we are the United States of America!”) predicted that Obama
would be elected President someday. Yet, the Clinton campaign ignored
the Obama threat.
Hillary Clinton's strategist and pollster was the Harvard and
Columbia-educated Mark Penn. He had just written a book, “Microtrends:
The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes.” He was considered a
genius and the best political prognosticator. He advised Hillary not to
compete in the Caucus states, and to concentrate on the primary states.
That strategy was a blunder. It cost Hillary the nomination.
In thirteen US states the Democrats select their delegates for the
presidential nominees though caucusing. Voters meet in arenas like town
houses and select delegates for candidates through voting. The rest of
the states hold primaries where voters go to the polling stations and
cast their vote for the candidate of their choice just as in any other
election.
Hillary Clinton participated in the Iowa caucus where she finished
third; Obama won. Senator Clinton lost Iowa because she had voted to
authorise the 2003 Iraq war. Illinois State Senator Barack Obama had
opposed the war. Astonishingly, Hillary Clinton's campaign believed that
her nomination was so “inevitable” that they skipped most of the
remaining caucus states.
Although during the second half of her 2008 Democratic campaign
Hillary Clinton won more delegates than Barack Obama in the primary
states, because Obama scooped up all the delegates from those caucus
states, he won the Democratic nomination.
Hillary Clinton has learnt her lesson from 2008. Mark Penn is gone
from her campaign! With little competition, this time around, Hillary
really is the inevitable nominee.
The writer is a Rhodes Scholar.
