I make no secret of the fact that I’ve always been an admirer of former President Clinton, but I’m willing to concede one of the secrets of his success: he benefited from having ridiculously awful enemies. This is not to say the president’s considerable skills didn’t serve him well, but even when he stumbled, he excelled thanks to the futility of rivals like Gingrich, Dole, DeLay, and Starr.
Seven years later, say what you will about Hillary Clinton, but her enemies are making her look good.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton hit back Friday at a Pentagon aide who charged that her questions about Iraq withdrawal planning have the effect of helping the enemy — calling the accusation a spurious dodge of a serious issue. […]
Clinton responded Friday in a letter to Edelman’s boss, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, asking if he agreed with Edelman’s charge [that debating Iraq policy benefits the enemy]. The New York senator said Edelman had ducked her questions and “instead made spurious arguments to avoid addressing contingency planning.”
“Undersecretary Edelman has his priorities backward,” Clinton wrote, calling his claim “outrageous and dangerous.” She repeated her request for a briefing — classified if necessary — on the issue of end-of-war planning.
The irony is, Edelman meant to smack Hillary down, and ended up doing her a huge favor. It should have been an easy one — a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee asked the Secretary of Defense for information about how the U.S. plans to eventually withdraw from Iraq. Instead of a substantive answer, the Pentagon asked a partisan hack from Cheney’s office to write an incorrect, inappropriate, and demagogic response.
Politically, this is a special kind of stupid. Say what you will about the senator, but Hillary Clinton and her team know how to swing at a slow, hanging curve over the middle of the plate — and that’s exactly what Edelman offered.
The result was the best of all possible worlds for Clinton: she gets to hit back hard against a bogus attack from the Bush administration, she gets to burnish her anti-war credentials, and she gets a couple of days of excellent press. The campaign really ought to send Edelman a thank-you note.
What’s more, I received an email from John Kerry’s office, announcing new legislation that Edelman helped inspire. From a press release:
During a joint conference call with reporters this afternoon Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) will announce their plan to introduce legislation that would force the Pentagon to prepare a report and briefing for Congress on contingency planning for redeploying troops from Iraq.
This legislative effort is a direct result of Under Secretary of Defense Eric Edelman’s unacceptable response to a Congressional inquiry on a matter of national security to Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, asking for the Pentagon to brief the appropriate oversight committees in Congress on what current contingency plans exist for the future withdrawal of United States forces from Iraq. Alternatively, if no such plans exist, the Congressional inquiry asked for an explanation for the decision not to engage in such planning. In response, Under Secretary Eric Edelman sent an unacceptable and outrageous political attack.
Forget the thank-you note; Clinton probably owes Edelman a fruit basket. And some flowers. And a box of chocolates….