Looking Like An Opportunist
This is probably one of the worst instances of political opportunism in recent memory. In the wake of the deft handling of the hostage situation in New Hampshire yesterday by the state and local authorities, Hillary Clinton is attempting to take credit for resolving the crisis.
Over the ensuing five hours, as a state trooper negotiated with the suspect and hostages were released one-by-one, Clinton continued to call up and down the law enforcement food chain, from local to county to state to federal officials.
"I knew I was bugging a lot of these people, it felt like on a minute-by-minute basis, trying to make sure that I knew everything that was going on so I was in a position to tell the families, to tell my campaign and to be available to do anything that they asked of me," the New York senator said.
At the same time, the woman striving to move from former first lady to the first female president was eager to convey that she knew the traditional lines of command and control in a crisis, even if the events inside the storefront on North Main Street were far short of a world calamity.
"They were the professionals, they were in charge of this situation, whatever they asked me or my campaign to do is what we would do," Clinton said.
Along with taking charge while giving the professionals free rein, Clinton offered up a third dimension to her crisis character: humanity. She said she felt "grave concern" when she first heard the news of the hostage-taking.
"It affected me not only because they were my staff members and volunteers, but as a mother, it was just a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion, outrage, frustration, anger, everything at the same time," Clinton said.
I'm willing to bet that what the people she was bugging wanted from her campaign was for Hillary to quit pestering them and tying up vital communication links with her political machinations. Other people are also not at all impressed with Hillary's attempted hijacking.
Jim Lynch: Is the AP going to be charged with an in-kind contribution to the Clinton Campaign?
Ed Morrisey: 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.
Ann Althouse: Oh, good lord, she was not facing disorder. The hostage-taking was over, and even when it was going on, she was not facing it. She was waiting for law enforcement authorities to deal with a troubled man, which they did, without anyone suffering a physical injury.
Years back, a major ice storm knocked literally half of the electrical distribution system of Rochester Gas and Electric onto the ground. A huge area was without power. RG&E pulled crews in from all over the country and was working around the clock to get power restored. But the damage was absolutely incredible and things simply took time to fix. The then county manager of Monroe county made a famously stupid statement at the time, telling RG&E to "get the power back on or else." He didn't look like a powerful, in charge person. He looked like a rank opportunist. People remembered his ridiculously empty threat at the next election.
He lost.
UPDATE: Others: Newsbusters: So in the end, this author has propped up Hillary Clinton as: 1) being presidential, 2) looking the part, 3) having a unique perspective as a woman, and 4) not being contrived, all because she travelled to New Hampshire and made a couple statements.
Bits Blog: She knows full well that the press is going to be speaking of her actions , whatever they were, in reverent tones , and her loyalists outside the press were going to be lapping that message up.
Mac's Mind: So the “mini crisis” just happen to hand her what she needed, specifically the validity of her ability to handle crisis?
Rightwing Nuthouse: And would someone please tell me how it is possible for someone to know the “traditional lines of command and control in a crisis” while at exactly the same time ” taking charge” of the situation? Johnson was so eager to put the candidate at the center of the action (taking charge) he temporarily forgot that a paragraph earlier he had her deferring to “traditional lines of authority.”
Carpetbagger Report: But “the picture of calm in the face of crisis”? Isn’t this overdoing it a bit? ….I’m at a loss.
Urban Grounds: Hell, I was just as calm and strong during the crisis as Hillary was. Maybe the AP can come over here and give me a good slobbering, too.
Hot Air: She managed to refrain from screaming and crying. Then she flew to New Hampshire and gave a couple of perfunctory statements.
The Van Der Galiën Gazette: She reacted well. ‘Nough said.
Riehl World View: Video!
Other Links to this Post
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Hillary: Sounding Presidential « The Van Der Galiën Gazette — Saturday, 1 December , 2007 @ 10:44 am
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That’s right, Ed, it IS about spin. | BitsBlog — Saturday, 1 December , 2007 @ 10:46 am
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PoliGazette » Hillary: Sounding Presidential — Sunday, 2 December , 2007 @ 8:50 pm
By feeblemind, Saturday, 1 December , 2007 @ 12:11 pm
Others do the work, and HRC tries to take the credit by making a statement. It will be interesting to see if this gives her a boost in the polls.
By NortonPete, Saturday, 1 December , 2007 @ 1:36 pm
40 years ago, a single local cop would have walked in and knocked the guy to the floor period, not “hostage” teams and SWAT teams and cell phones, and armored cars.
Now a drunk, as it turns out, ( I’m still trying to figure out how that other local mentally ill person got named originally. Some town. ), ties up hundreds of law enforcement people and a presidential candidate hundreds of mile away takes credit for a peaceful resolution.
Does anyone else realize how dysfunctional our society has become?
By Mwalimu Daudi, Saturday, 1 December , 2007 @ 5:43 pm
St. Hillary’s time as a national hero was certainly short-lived:
Hillary Clinton Draws Boos at Iowa Campaign Event, 1 Day After Hostage Situation.
This happened at a gathering of deranged leftists, which will put the MSM in a bit of a bind. Unhinged Democrat rage is the sole moral touchstone of the nation (as far as the MSM is concerned), but this was directed at the Democrat frontrunner for president. It’s hard to plausibly demonize Republicans for the failure of moonbats to stick to the MSM-provided script.
Still, this drove Debategate off of the MSM radar screen. Not that they had been paying much attention, anyway.