The Politics of Clapping Posted by Michael Cohen

I've long thought that Hillary got sort of a bum rap on the Iraq war. Sure she was wrong to support the war, but so were the vast majority of Senate Democrats.  Frankly as a New York Senator a year after 9/11 and as a woman, it would have been quite the political challenge for her to vote against it. Moreover, I'm quite sure that her support for the Iraq war didn't mean supporting the terrible manner in which this was has been waged.  She was in a tough political position. She made the wrong call, but it's somewhat understandable.

Now having said that I'm really baffled by this nugget from The Hill:

When Bush proclaimed, “Ladies and gentlemen, some may deny the surge is working, but among terrorists there is no doubt,” Clinton sprang to her feet in applause but Obama remained firmly seated. The president’s line divided most of the Democratic audience, with nearly half standing to applaud and the other half sitting in stony silence.

  Hillary Clinton is well aware the surge is not working. In fact, the "some" George Bush is referring to is "her." Here's what she said earlier this month in New Hampshire about it:

The purpose behind the surge was to create the space and time for political reconciliation, for the Iraqi government to do what only it can do and trying to deal with the myriad of unresolved problems that confront it. . . . We have the greatest military in the world.  We send in more of our troops, they will be able to     dampen down the violence, but there has not been a willingness on the  part of the Iraqi government to do what the surge was intended to do,  to push them to begin to make the tough decisions.  And in the absence    of that political action, 23 Americans dying in December is totally    unacceptable.  You know, there is no more cause for us to be there if     the Iraqis are just not going to do what they need to do to take care       of their own country. 

I don't understand this. If Hillary says the surge is not working (and she reiterated the point in the South Carolina debate) why is she applauding when the President says the surge is working? Maybe it's just me, but doesn't her "applause" represent a repudiation of her own position on Iraq? If someone has another explanation I'm all ears.

 

Comments

[Mike M.]

You just have to get in her head a little. She was sitting their thinking, "Camera's gonna be on me a lot, remember to applaud at troop mentions..." Then she leapt when she should have sat. Obama's just better at that kind of thing. But I really don't think she was endorsing any sort of policy...

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Hillary is such a liar that she forgets what she had lied about. On the Iraq war, she voted for the war and has grown chicken-hawk feathers which she flaps whenever HER president, Bush, crows. Obama is consistent. He is authentic and centered. That is, he is stable and honest. We need a true leader like Obama in these dangerous times, not a chicken-hawk wearing a skirt.

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Hillary is such a liar that she forgets what she had lied about. On the Iraq war, she voted for the war and has grown chicken-hawk feathers which she flaps whenever HER president, Bush, crows. Obama is consistent. He is authentic and centered. That is, he is stable and honest. We need a true leader like Obama in these dangerous times, not a chicken-hawk wearing a skirt.

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