Hillary's 9/11

“It looked and sounded presidential,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “This was an instance of the White House experience of this campaign. They knew how to handle this.”

I don't think so, Tim.

To me it looks and sounds like micromanagement of local affairs by a wannabe Federal official. It shows that if she is elected, there will be no matter so small or trivial that The Rodham Administration will not try to run it.

The Captain provides insightful analysis of the Hillary's hostage spin.

Er, what? Sabato, who usually gives intelligent political analysis, must have inhaled a little deeply. Clinton was nowhere near New Hampshire during the entirety of the crisis. What was presidential about having the Rochester PD talk a hostage-taker out of a building? What "leadership" did Hillary show in Virginia during this crisis? She canceled a speech!

The AP's Glen Johnson is even worse. He breathlessly describes Hillary's efforts as "continu[ing] to call up and down the law enforcement food chain, from local to county to state to federal officials." The hostages were released within a couple of hours, and presumably their families had closer contacts with the PD, as they live closer to the offices than Virginia. "I knew I was bugging these people," Clinton told the AP, but she wanted to know minute-by-minute what was happening, so she could tell her staff and be prepared for whatever assistance she could lend. Which would be exactly .... what? If the PD wanted to have her call the ersatz bomber, they would know where to find her.

Hillary certainly didn't do anything wrong, but she didn't "take charge" as the AP implies, or look presidential, as Sabato declares. She certainly looks considerably less presidential today in trying to take credit for the professional work done by the Rochester PD yesterday. That looks a lot more like a politician than a President, and we already know her credentials for the former. This incident doesn't provide Hillary any credentials for the latter.

And where's the criticism of her chicken-shit canceling of a speech and closing of her campaign offices over what was quickly identified as an isolated event by a lone nutjob? Isn't that what President Bush was criticized for following that awful morning in 2001?

"Ooooh, I'm sooooo scared" Hillary should have said. I'm surprised she didn't scramble Air Force 3 and circle Nebraska for the duration of the event. God help us if she's in charge when Osama detonates that suitcase nuke. My esteem for Ray Nagin's crisis management skills would certainly rise in comparison.