ALL gimmick and no substance

“If the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that [2002 vote authorizing military action in Iraq] or has said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from.”
- Hillary Clinton (17 Feb 2007, Dover, N.H.)

Personally, I am mighty tired of politicians who make mistakes, and then refuse to state forthrightly that they did indeed make a mistake. Too much like Mr. High-and-Mighty occupying the seat at present.

More on Hillary, from her “advisors, friends and donors”:

“Mrs. Clinton […] never wanted to apologize—even if she viewed the war as a mistake—arguing that an apology would be a gimmick.”

Not only does she view the war as a mistake, but she refuses to acknowledge her active participation in its inception, and worse, sees this as a strength, according to another (unnamed) advisor:

“[Mrs. Clinton] doesn’t want to be […] the vacillating, flip-flopping Democratic candidate that went to defeat in 2000 and ’04. She wants to maintain a firmness… That’s what people will want in 2008.”

“Firmness” in the absence of humility and in the face of massive error? I don’t think so. We are not 10-year-olds and the President is not our parent.

Leadership is what we want. Choosing to defend an obvious-from-the-start ill-advised hand-off of Congressional responsibility to a President whose intel was being questioned from the beginning, and then refusing to acknowledge the base stupidity of that action does not qualify as leadership, and does not qualify one for the highest office in the land.

I am very tired of those covering their butts with “if I knew then what I know now” BS. How is it that so many of us without their privileged access knew from the very beginning that this was a bogus war begun on bogus premises and fought by bogus means? We’re not psychic, but only careful readers of readily available documents.

It takes no courage to go along with the crowd. It does take courage to independently assess the evidence and then disagree with the crowd, and it takes courage to be a leader. Hillary Clinton does not have what it takes, if she does not even have the iota of courage needed to admit her mistakes.

Politics is all about image now, with the big argument in her campaign over how such an apology would play with the voters. Give me a break. And take some lessons from Barbara Lee.