Hillary Clinton appeared yesterday morning on the Today show and, according to Arianna Huffington (who has the video):
The issue was former president Bill Clinton’s campaign trail complaints that it’s unfair for Barack Obama to be characterized as more antiwar than his wife since they hold essentially the same position on the war.
Matt Lauer quoted Obama’s retort that that was true "if you leave out the fact that she authorized and supported the war there and I said it was a bad idea" . . . . Lauer then asked Hillary, "Was there a fundamental difference in 2002 between you and him?"
Hillary [didn’t answer the question but said] she’s been "saying for a number of years" that we should bring our troops home . . .
It probably all depends on what the meaning of “a number of years” is.
It is not even two years since Hillary appeared before AIPAC and gave a speech that not only did not call for bringing the troops home but — on the contrary — endorsed the mission in Kennedyesque terms, long after it was apparent there had been no stockpiles of WMD.
But May 2005 (a number of years ago) was a very different time. Let’s recapture the atmosphere in which Hillary spoke, with this capsule history of the war circa May 2005:
1. In 2003, Saddam Hussein had been removed in a three-week war:
2. In 2004, the American coalition formally turned over the government to Iraqis, on schedule:
3. In 2004-2005, the Iraqis risked their lives three times to go to the polls to elect their new government and approve a democratic constitution:
That was the context of Hillary’s presidential-sounding 2005 AIPAC speech. But things changed in February 2006 — nine months after she spoke — when al-Qaeda engineered the barbaric bombing of the Samarra Mosque, generating the chaos al-Qaeda correctly predicted would cause many American politicians to lose heart.
Al-Qaeda must look at the two leading presidential candidates in the Democratic Party — one a bona fide George McGovern and the other a George McGovern in process — and must think it needs no legislated American withdrawal by March 31, 2008 to win this war. It needs only to continue to cause chaos until November 2008 — not even a number of years — to elect the Clinton/Obama "Come Home America" ticket.
On the Today show yesterday, Hillary pledged to end the war as soon as she takes office if it isn’t ended sooner. Like John Kerry, she will bear any burden for a number of years. . . .