Taking Credit where None is Due

Remember this clip from General Petraus' and Ambassador Crocker's testimony last September?




Well today, Candidate Clinton had this to say on the success of the surge.

MR. RUSSERT: If General Petraeus says, "Senator, in September you called the surge the suspension of belief. It has worked, and you know it's worked"--let me finish--"you can see on the ground. I'm saying to you, Senator, or president-elect Clinton, don't destroy Iraq. It's working, the surge is working. Keep troops there just a few more months to get this reconciliation complete."
SEN. CLINTON: Tim, I'm going to go back to what the whole point of the surge was, and the testimony that we heard last fall. The point of the surge was to push the Iraqi government to make these tough choices. Now, if we put in 30,000 of our finest young men and women, who are going to go after the bad guys and quell violence in certain parts of Iraq, there's no doubt that can be done. The partnerships that have been created by the tribal sheiks in Anbar province and elsewhere gave us an extra advantage. But that doesn't in any way undermine the basic reality. The point of the surge was to quickly move the Iraqi government and Iraqi people. That is only now beginning to happen, and I believe in large measure because the Iraqi government, they watch us, they listen to us. I know very well that they follow everything that I say. And my commitment to begin withdrawing our troops in January of 2009 is a big factor, as it is with Senator Obama, Senator Edwards, those of us on the Democratic side. It is a big factor in pushing the Iraqi government to finally do what they should have been doing all along.

Now in all fairness to Senator Clinton, the clip above shows that Mr. Russert's question was quite loaded. She did not say what he said she said. She said that "the reports (from Gen. Petraus and Amb. Crocker on the successes of the surge) that you have provided require the willing suspension of disbelief."

That said, her answer is the height of Clintonesque arrogance. For her to say that the reason that we are finally seeing political progress in Iraq is because the Iraqi's "follow everything I say." denigrates the sacrifices our our brave troops. Her grandstanding on this belittles the troops and their accomplishments and the Democratic Party.

Although, I may have to rethink my use of the term "arrogance" to describe her remarks. Her answer to Russert was so far beyond arrogance. I really don't know if there is an adjective that can adequately describe her majestic protestation of grandeur.