Remembering, and Forgetting

Forgettable leaders deserve their anonymity. True leaders, on the other hand, can stand the test of time.

The one-time presidential contender was wrapping up her tenure as Secretary of State in January, when Sen. Ron Johnson, (R-Wisc.), dared to ask her about the September 11 attack on the American consulate in Benghazi. To most observers, it was a clear-cut act of terrorism that resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including our ambassador to Libya.

Clinton, though, was uninterested in the cause of the disaster. “Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?” she thundered.

Left-wing commentators from Rachel Maddow to the Talking Points Memo cheered as if Clinton had hit upon some profound truth. But what she really seemed to be saying is that the Obama administration isn’t interested in learning from a direct attack on the U.S. and our representatives overseas. And those who don’t learn from history, as they say, may well find themselves repeating it.

But not Clinton. She’s off to a comfortable retirement. And while she may consider running for president again in 2016, it says here that she won’t be elected. Instead, she’ll drift off, lost to the sands of history.

During a recent lecture at The Heritage Foundation journalist Charles Moore, Thatcher’s official biographer, predicted that her name will be known in 500 years. Not simply because of everything that she overcame to win election as Britain’s first female prime minister, but because of all that she accomplished while in office.

Thatcher, Moore noted, was among the earliest to spot the potential in Mikhail Gorbachev. She invited him to visit her at the prime minister’s retreat of Chequers some six years before he became Soviet leader. “I like Mr. Gorbachev. We can do business together,” she said then, foreshadowing the cooperation that would help bring down the Berlin Wall without any violence.

Thatcher was nervous about German reunification. “We beat the Germans twice, and now they’re back” she warned. She didn’t want to see Europe dominated economically by a united Germany. That, of course, is exactly what’s come to pass.

“In 2011, Italy and Greece had prime ministers imposed on them by Germany,” Moore notes. When finally given a chance to choose their own leader, Italians voted resounding against Germany’s pick, Mario Monti.

Germany has benefitted greatly from the common currency, but it’s unclear whether voters in struggling countries such as Spain, Greece and Italy really want to remain in the Euro zone.

Thatcher was steadfast in her defense of the British currency, the pound sterling. In one of her final parliamentary appearances as P.M., she railed against those who aimed to give Brussels control over British fiscal policy. “What is the point of trying to get elected to Parliament only to hand over sterling and the powers of this House to Europe?” she asked. Staying out of the common currency has helped Britain avoid many of its problems over the years.

Thatcher’s question should echo on this side of the Atlantic, more than two decades later. “Congress has fallen into the habit of passing sprawling and vague laws, filled with arcane cross-references that most Members of Congress neither read nor understand,” Heritage warned in its new book America’s Opportunity for All. “This effectively turns lawmaking over to unaccountable staff and unelected bureaucrats.”

It raises the question Thatcher asked: Why run for office, just to hand off your power to unelected bureaucrats?

Today’s “leaders” are all too eager to pass off power and let someone else lead. That’s why most of them will be forgotten, while Thatcher and her guidance will be celebrated down through the ages.

Hillary is done in politics. Her fiasco at Benghazi will hang on her neck like an albatross.

No matter what Rush says about failure being a resume’ enhancement for a democRAT, that one, is simply toxic and Hillary AND Bill know it.

We have seen the last of Hillary Clinton politically.

What difference, at this point, does it make?” she thundered.

I bet it matters to the guy who's still in prison in CA for doing that stupid video that was blamed by Clinton & Rice...

Mark

Hillary is done in politics. Her fiasco at Benghazi will hang on her neck like an albatross.

Do not underestimate this woman. She's Richard Nixon in a pantsuit. Nixon's enemies list approach has been enormously expanded, and is now a fully searchable and sortable database with all kinds of dirt on all types of people -- Republicans, rivals in the Democratic Party, and news media figures.

The pot boiled over in March 2008 with all kinds of dirt on Barack Obama. It is a testament to the Chicago Machine's faithful adherence to the Mafia code of omerta that Obama somehow survived it and became the nominee.

Anyone who tries to run against her for the Democratic nomination in 2016 would have to be squeaky clean, and that person doesn't exist in the Democratic Party. If you think Hillary would be doomed in November after she wins the nomination, all you have to do is remember how the news media have been in the tank for Obama, and how divided the Republican Party is right now.

She is almost certainly the nominee, barring any major health issues, and we will have a brutal fight on our hands trying to beat her in November. Mark my words.

I don’t disbelieve you, and at this point it looks like she’s done.

We will know more as time progresses. I expect some sort of rehabilitation tour to begin lat this year or early ‘14.

That will be the “tell”. If she gets the softballs (softer than usual) on Meet the Depressed, Deface the Nation, etc. and the mediots start raving about how smart she is (again)....how we can’t live without her experience etc.

Consider that Bubba is getting to be an old man, and his imminent demise could be sooner than we think. That SOB could keel over at any moment. Now THAT would revitalize her !!

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