Friday, May 15, 2015

David Ignatius, "Time for candidate Clinton to step up on trade": Actually, It's Time for Her to Step Down

Yet another "remarkable" opinion piece from David Ignatius today. In a Washington Post op-ed entitled "Time for candidate Clinton to step up on trade," Ignatius would have us know:

"What does Hillary Clinton believe about the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the Iran nuclear deal? You would assume that she’s supportive because she helped get both agreements started. But she has been a study in reticence — a trimmer checking the political winds, rather than a leader.

. . . .

Clinton should put away the waffle iron when it comes to the Iran deal, too. As secretary of state, she launched the secret channel in Oman that passed the message that Iran could enrich uranium if it agreed to tight controls on its nuclear program. Her experience with such secret diplomacy is one reason she’s a compelling candidate. But she has been stinting in her comments so far about the Iran pact.

. . . .

But it’s Clinton’s rope-a-dope approach to the TPP that deserves most attention, because it highlights her vulnerability as a candidate. Her caution conveys the sense that she’s running because she wants to get elected, rather than as the exponent of a set of beliefs. Critics have argued that Clinton, similarly, sought to play by a special set of rules in her use of a private e-mail server while she was secretary of state and in the Clinton Foundation’s harvest of contributions from foreigners."

Yup, she should be answering questions about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Iran nuclear deal, her private email server, and donations from foreigners to the Clinton Foundation. But she won't. What you don't know can't hurt her, and Hillary has decided upon a campaign of silence.

ABC's George Stephanopoulos gave the Clinton Foundation $50,000? Oops, make that $75,000, but no mention of this transgression in Ignatius's essay. "What difference does it make" that Stephanopoulos asked Peter Schweizer, who wrote "Clinton Cash," if he had a "partisan interest" during an interview three weeks ago?

You see, this "compelling candidate" should step down, not up, and put an end to her $2.5 billion presidential campaign, but fat chance of that happening. We live in a world gone rotten.

No comments:

Post a Comment