Political Bandstand

Hillary Clinton joined Senator John McCain and President George Bush in the war room at the Donald Rumsfeld school of diplomacy when she threatened to ‘totally obliterate’ Iran. In 2008 we’re in a situation where the United States has been domestically incapacitated by a sustained war the majority of Americans disagree with. It was, firstly a war that was waged on the false pretense that there was evidence proving Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, secondly a war that was caused by a failure to institute adequate diplomacy. Moreover, it was a war concocted by a hawkish, crazy eyed blood mongers who could not and still cannot quantify any benefit to the American populace. Quite the opposite, in fact. Terrorist factions have multiplied. Future threat to the United States has actually increased by garnering the attention of terrorists, and our economy, high on the hog during the 90’s, now staggering from a record deficit caused by out of control defense spending, and record oil prices from a Mideast, whose individual parts were already threatening to fall apart at the seams, now plunged into complete destabilization. The only positive that might be gleened is the lessons that can be taken away from mistakes as vast as the Bush administration has made. Lessons unfortunately Hillary Clinton’s lust for power has stunted her learning.

Hillary Clinton, in her most bellicose comments since the presidential race began, today threatened to obliterate Iran if it launched a nuclear strike against Israel. Speaking as voters went to the polls in the potentially crucial Pennsylvania primary, the New York senator said: “I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran (if it attacks Israel).” -Clinton makes threat against Iran as voters go to polls, guardian.co.uk, April 22, 2008

Robert Scheer did a good job at highlighting the seriousness of a statement that Clinton seems to toss around as lightly as she might toss an orange at a fruit stand:

Seizing upon a question as to how she would respond to a nuclear attack by Iran, which doesn’t have nuclear weapons, on Israel, which does, Hillary mocked reasoned discourse by promising to “totally obliterate them,” in an apparent reference to the population of Iran. That is not a word gaffe; it is an assertion of the right of our nation to commit genocide on an unprecedented scale. -Clinton Threatens to ‘Obliterate’ Iran, Truth Dig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines, Apr 22, 2008

With Clinton going on to make threats of “massive retaliation,” it’s important to note how similar this threat against Iran is to Bush’s pre Iraq war stance on Saddam Hussein. Mistake number one, assuming without proof the nation in question has weapons of mass destruction. Mistake number two, failure to institute adequate diplomacy. Essentially, Clinton’s policy is lifted directly from the pages of Bush’s presidential guide book. Not to mention, this is coming from a candidate who has endlessly touted her foreign relations competency on the campaign trail.

Many of her supporters will excuse this kind of talk as election season rhetoric designed to win votes in a largely blue collar state whose citizens value actions over words. If so, our worries are no lessened. Someone who uses words as strong as those in a public forum just to get votes obviously doesn’t understand the seriousness of her representation of her ideas. She obvously doesn’t realize words she uses in her campaign rallies have just as much capability to enflame and provoke leaders of Arab nations as demands she makes at a UN negotiation table. A candidate such as this, despite countless times declaring otherwise, is not ready to take charge of the White House.