Home All The Difference in the World
Home All The Difference in the World

All The Difference in the World

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived back in the Senate, after dodging a few falling safes, multiple banana peels and an ornery dog named Henry, to give a carefully prepared histrionic rant which can be summed up, "I do care a lot" and "None of this was my fault" and "What difference at this point does it make?"

The last isn't a sarcastic restatement. It's what she actually said.

It might make a difference to a Coptic Christian whose trailer was blamed by the leader of the free world for a series of Al Qaeda attacks against American diplomatic facilities and who was sent to prison on the orders of members of the administration.

That fellow of many names, now serving a year in prison, is the only one to actually get locked up. The ringleader of the attack walks the streets of Benghazi freely. A drone could make short work of him, but no drones are coming his way. Instead a car bomb, planted by Libyan enemies nearly took him out. Some of the other Benghazi attackers were killed by the Algerian military during the siege; doing the work that Obama won't do. If the Benghazi terrorists finally die, it will most likely be at the hands of the French, the Syrian army or Libyan rival militias.

Benghazi, Obama said, during his appearance with Jon Stewart, the man of many grimaces, was a bump in the road. And that's all it was. The Obama campaign bus drove over four bodies and reached its destination in an armored parking garage somewhere in D.C. An irritated Hillary Clinton, who is prepping for her own bus tour in 2016, has every reason to demand to know what difference it makes now to discuss who lied about what and who failed to secure the Benghazi mission.

The election is over, and her testimony was delayed until after the fat lady held up her talking points at the debate and sang. Al Qaeda is dead, except for the parts of it rampaging across Syria, Iraq, Mali, Libya, Algeria and Pakistan, and a decade of war is coming to an end or just beginning. It makes no difference now which one of those it really is, just as it makes no difference, whether, as Clinton said, it happened "because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night decided to go kill some Americans?"

Dead is dead. The Benghazi four are dead. Stability in the Middle East is dead. Hope is dead. Victory is dead. It's time to discuss the serious stuff. Like finding the right title for Hillary's next biography, ghost-written and set for release around 2015, right after the Dems suffer a Congressional setback from angry NRA voters and just before the next election to position her as the new voice of hope.

"Bumps in the road" is one option. It really communicates that Hillary has been through a lot and driven over a lot of hard roads full of potholes and people who were only there because the Republicans refused to fully fund her infrastructure and outreach programs. But "What Difference Does It Make?" best captures the zeitgeist of the time. That sense that nothing matters once you've won.

What Difference Does It Make?: Hillary Clinton in Peace and War" will show up on shelves with a cover of her in some distant country looking out at the exotic landscape or surrounded by properly foreign children. It will be packaged along with a public speaking tour of colleges as Hillary promises to teach the leaders of tomorrow how they too can make a difference her way. The tour will use up Hillary's store of funny and inspiring stories from her meetings with foreign leaders and human rights activists, most of which will be made up, but what difference does it make?

Everyone will pretend to be inspired by her. Suddenly it will be of paramount importance (circa 2015) that young women have a president of their own to look up to. It'll all be fake, like her career, but what difference does that make. The real campaign slogan, at this point, might as well be, "Hillary, why not?" and "You know it's going to happen anyway."

Over in Cairo, leading senators visited Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood President, Mohammed Morsi and tried to explain to him that ranting about Jews being the bloodthirsty spawn of apes and pigs who must be driven out of the Middle East is “inappropriate” if he expects to be considered a force for stability in the region. In response, Morsi told the senators that he respects all religions and that the only reason the New York Times belatedly mentioned the story a month later is because the apes and pigs control the media.

Afterward Senator McCain called for $480 million in economic aid to the Morsi regime and Obama sent him a bunch of tanks and jets, because really what difference does it make?

Morsi knows that he can say whatever he pleases and still get the F-16s and Abrams tanks and the billions of dollars in aid, and so it makes no difference at all what he says. 

Sure at some point in the near or distant future, Morsi might use those weapons to, "free the land from the filth of the Jews”. And then the Christians. And when that happens, someone will sit down in front of a Senate panel and explain that they really do care a lot, that it wasn't their fault and that assigning blame makes no difference at this point.

Much as it might be nice to think that if Obama wasn't in office, that we wouldn't be sending planes and tanks and money to Morsi, that's wishful thinking. McCain would have embraced the Arab Spring in the White House, the way that he embraced it in the Senate. He would have bombed Libya and would probably have been bombing Syria last year. Romney might not have backed the overthrow of the Egyptian government if he had won in '08, but he would still be shipping the same goodies to Morsi in the name of maintaining regional stability if he had taken his inauguration oath this week. The difference is that unlike Obama, he wouldn't have known what he was doing or why.

Hillary Clinton knows it quite well. Most of her stories may as fake as her biographies, past and present, but she's served in the Senate and hung out in the White House. And if McCain had won, she would be sitting on a panel blasting whatever hapless McCain appointee was holding down the SOS desk for failing to properly secure whatever half-assed intelligence operation was taking place there.

This mutual hypocrisy makes any genuine concern difficult to sustain. It reduces all hearings to bouts of political investigations, to prospective 2016 candidates shouting at each other over what they would have done. And then there's nothing left, but to ask what difference would it make if she had secured the Benghazi mission, if Obama had dispatched timely rescue forces or if we had stayed the hell out of Libya. If would have made a large difference to the dead, but not a whole lot to Hillary 2016.

France is fighting in Mali now and it's getting about as much support from Washington, as the dead of Benghazi did. The drones aren't flying here either and neither is much of anything else. Obama Inc's people have said that they support the French operation but that they're still waiting to get a "clear picture" of the mission, the enemy and how much this will offend the Morsis of the Muslim world.

The quest for a clear picture was also the pitch made by Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice and Barack Obama whenever they were asked about the Great YouTube Trailer Terrorist Attacks of 2012. What some cynical people might see as lies or calculation inaction, was just an effort to fiddle with the rabbit ears of intelligence agencies to get a clearer picture.

The picture will never come in crystal clear, but then it's not meant to. Like one of those artfully stylized big box TVs showing test patterns in the window displays of retro boutiques, it just adds a little style and mystery to the careers of those responsible. The real story will go on dripping out bit by bit, and it will go on not making a difference.

This really isn't about Benghazi, which could have been secured for a fraction of the $16 million that her State Department spent on overpriced Kindle book readers and the $4.5 million it spent on art in embassies. You could have dropped the cost for fully protecting the Benghazi mission into the billion that State spent on global warming. Or the dough that Howard Gutman, campaign contributor and Ambassador to Belgium who shares some of Morsi's views, spent renovating his embassy into a shining example of Green Sustainableness could have instead been spent on fortifying the mission.

This isn't even about Hillary 2016. It's about the Middle East where bad policies make a world of difference. And it's about a political establishment that rewards the Hillary Clintons for the disasters they make while punishing the Michele Bachmanns for the truth that they tell, because it is unable to come to terms with its own mistakes.

Carter gave us the Mullah-ridden Iran and began pouring money into the Pakistani terror machine of the ISI. Obama gave us a North Africa that is beginning to look like Iran and has shoved handfuls of cash, weapons and support at any Islamist whose views and affiliations stop just short of Al Qaeda, even if he happens to be Al Qaeda's best friend.

But what difference does it make when few Republican senators can discuss what the Brotherhood really stands for and its impact on the Middle East and the West? What difference does it make when Romney could not even begin to explain what was really going on in the region beyond a few talking points that he had memorized? What difference does it make when Hillary Clinton can give her performance, knowing it will get rave reviews from the media, and then look over her ghostwriters'  latest proofs from the chapter on Pakistan that focus on microfinance and sustainable energy?

Crimes don't make a difference unless there are people who can expose them for what they are. Many of the things that we consider unacceptable behavior today had to be criminalized.Democrats have criminalized many ordinary things, such as buying cough syrup without a photo ID or making a movie that offends Muslims, but they have decriminalized other things, such as funding and arming terrorists and endangering the survival of the free world.

Reversing this process and reversing Hillary 2016 requires men and women who can show why what happened in Benghazi, in Cairo and across the region makes a difference. Why it's more than just another random occurrence that can be shelved until the end of time when the clear picture that Susan Rice, Hillary Clinton and assorted administration officials talk about finally develops. It will make a  difference when there are enough people who realize that in the last four years, these policies have made all the difference in the world and paved the way for replacing the war of drones and hijackers with a global war on the scale of the first two.

Then the difference that Hillary dismissed and that her colleagues in Obama Inc. have held at bay for another four years will finally be made.

Comments

  1. I know that it does no good, and I know that it is wrong, but I truly hate these people.

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  2. rabbenu babelu24/1/13

    rabbenu babelu says a wicked gem i wonder if dick morris will use your title on his 2016 hillary expose

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  3. This is a very good piece, and my comment here is relatively unimportant compared to the points you are making, but I want to say that I don't share your low opinion of Romney.

    I think he has quite a good grasp of foreign policy, and excellent foreign policy advisors, and I do not think he would have supported Morsi.

    This WSJ op-ed by Romney is not particularly deep, but I believe it supports my point: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444712904578024293333633994.html

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  4. Anonymous24/1/13

    Sarah,

    I believe Mitt Romney is an exceptional human being, and a good man, but he was too beholden to the GOP, and he did not make a tough stand against the establishment politics. This hurt him politically because conservative Americans have had it up to our eyeballs with the establishment politics.

    He would have continued playing the game as it is being played now, and that is not what America needs.

    I know Daniel might disagree, but I think that America needs a Bibi Netanyahu.

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  5. Daniel,
    China might make that very large scale war a reality in the near future.

    http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/01/18/19-Jan-13-World-View-China-s-directive-to-the-People-s-Liberation-Army-Get-Ready-for-War

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  6. Anonymous24/1/13

    When I heard the sound bite on my car radio of "What difference does in make at this point......guys out on a walk who decided to kill Americans.." I almost crashed. I lost my breath, my mouth hung open. I am so appalled!!! Later going over more of it, The Blaze has a montage of the Dems who used their time to bathe her in compliments, I was truly sick. Hillary said to the father of one of the Seals at the airforce base...."Don't worry we will get the person who made this film." !!!!!!!! I heard him say this in an interview...was he lying?
    How can we have as SOS a person who would say the above? What about the fact that it was the anniversary of 9/11? I feel like I am in some kind of crazy movie. I will work my fingers to the bone to make sure this ridiculous person does not become President.

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  7. I can't help wondering why, in the tiny window of opportunity they had, did the interrogators not ask the questions that the rest of us have asked since day one? It cannot be that our Congressmen/women do not have access to the internet, the alternate media and every available resource the common public has–can it?

    No, rather than believe they are all idiots, I, being a class A cynic, believe they are just performing for us - I really like the monkey analogy. ;-)

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  8. Again, that eery feeling of unreality, the magician (who happens to be SOS) pulls something out of the hat and pretends it is a rabbit, it sounds convincing and many believe it is ... except it is no rabbit at all.

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  9. The name plate, "The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton" in the photograph caused me to chuckle. It should've read, "The Dishonorable Fat Lady," as she did the "wave" and tried to persuade the committee that she had nothing to do with anything, sounding like a scold and a frustrated spinster.

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  10. old girl24/1/13

    Feel free to leave a comment. Please avoid spamming, cursing, shouting, throwing chairs, starting small fires and building barricades out of the rubble (unless you really have to).

    Speaking of building barricades out of the rubble

    of racists who voted for Obama because he is black,

    Alfonzo Rachel is begging us all not to let the Dems get one of their own elected as the first female president,

    because, as you say,

    it will be of paramount importance (circa 2015) that young women have a president of their own to look up to.

    We can't say we weren't warned.

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  11. ColKCS24/1/13

    OMG...I have found a new site which I must now add to my myriad other great reads. Thank you for such an erudite commentary.

    The fact that SOS Clinton can get away with such comments before both the House and Senate sub-committees is indicative of why the congress is held in such low esteem by all thinking Americans.

    God help us all.

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  12. Anonymous24/1/13

    Nothing makes a difference to a Progressive if it doesn't advance their ideology into practice. The "bump in the road", or lives lost is simply the collateral damage necessary for their revolution to proceed. Human life is always expendable when it is for the cause. People don't really matter to them except in how they can be manipulated and used as tools to help the Progressive.

    Elaine

    Elaine

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  13. Clinton's performance -- and, and it was a performance in the best tradition of Saturday Night Live -- was not one of concern for the lives of four Americans butchered by barbarians, but rather of the annoyance and aggravation and bother of having to answer questions about her "performance" as Secretary of State in charge of everything and for which she apparently thinks she needn't answer for.

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  14. Building blocks of reality (from Pilgrims and Founders): moral compass, self-reliance, The Bible, The Constitution, personal responsibility and accountability, family, tradition, patriotism, allegiance to the Flag, societal coherence, common language, culture, free speech, individual self-defense (guns), Rule of Law (equal justice for all), free self-regulated market, gold standard, protected borders, legal immigration (melting pot of cultures), coherent rational foreign policy (peace through strength), all contributing to strong, healthy, prosperous and lasting society.

    Building blocks of unreality (from the left): moral relativity, reliance on government (taking from others under some pretext like "fair share" of "social justice"), subversion, re-defined family, legalized infanticide, same-sex "Christian marriages" (opening Pandora box for other state approved and sponsored perversions), canceling gold standard, removing The Bible from public sphere, dismantling 10 commandments, "living Constitution", regulated speech (political correctness a.k.a. punitive conformity), disarming individuals (anti-gun laws and regulations for law abiding citizens), illegal immigration, mass legal 3rd world immigration, redefining word meanings ("sex" or "treason" or "victory" or "war" is what I say it is), incoherent irrational foreign policy (peace through disarmament), rule of man, some animals are more equal than others, socialized medicine, legalized death panels, endless violence, rivers of blood, high body count on TV, legal and illegal narcotics, pornography, mosques sharia "Islamophobia", all contributing to the demise of this once great country.

    The above lists are not complete, and not necessarily in the right order, quickly compiled just to outline the number of well known things. Taking into consideration that America was built on Judeo-Christian values, and looking at the numbers (the overwhelming majority of people are Christians and non-religious, and only tiny minority are Jews), one can't help but wonder, what the real "foundational knowledge" proportion is these days (i.e. how much of the country's DNA is "Judeo", how much is "Christian", and how much is the rest). And why Christianity tends to peacefully surrender its spiritual and cultural territory, one more same-sex "Christian marriage" and one more gay in the military at a time, to the enemy who is very unlikely to be satisfied with any achieved level of "transformation", who simply does not know where to stop. In recent history the USSR was the country where the wildest dreams of the left were realized, they achieved all "transformation" they ever wanted, and still the whole thing ended very badly.

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  15. This is how far the country strayed from the initial course, conservative foreign policy vs. liberal-progressive foreign policy Diana West | Toward a 'conservative' foreign policy | Jan 20, 2013

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  16. Anonymous24/1/13

    Seems like "Four dead in Benghazi" just doesn't swing as well as "Four dead in Ohio".

    -BillyDee

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  17. After the bitter lil pill from November I have ceased really keeping up. Thank you Mr. Greenfield for this stinging dose of real politiks.

    Fore told is fore warned as another commentor has stated. And keeping one's powder dry isn't just a slogan.

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  18. Anonymous Commenter25/1/13

    The death of those men makes no difference to Hillary at all.

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  19. lowercase elaine25/1/13

    Okay, so Hillary failed to keep our mission in Benghazi safe, even though that's the job she's paid to do. What difference does it make at this point?

    So she and everyone else in this administration lied constantly from the outset about the cause of the attack. What difference does that make at this point?

    So the media was complicit in pretending this was a nothing burger story. What difference does that make at this point?

    So we gave weapons to Libya's "freedom fighters" in their struggle against Qaddafi even though they were some of the same people we were fighting against in Iraq a few years earlier. But really, what difference does that make at this point?

    For all we know, some of those same weapons we gave these "freedom fighters" were used to kill our personnel at the mission in Benghazi. What difference does that make at this point?

    What exactly are we supposed to learn from any of this at this point?

    Okay, sure, four people wouldn't be dead; but honestly, who could've foreseen the attack? No one, except everyone in the administration who was warned about the lack of security at the Benghazi mission. So, really, what difference does it make to dredge it all up yet again? Haven't the families of the victims suffered enough?

    I think we don't really need to worry too much about what the 2016 election will look like. I doubt there'll be a cohesive republic at that point...

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  20. America urgently needs a conservative party true to the Christian and authentically federalist principles on which it was founded. A governing majority of the people are still loyal to those principles. What they lack is a political standard round which to rally in order to reclaim and conserve their God-endowed liberty. When will they leave the elitist faction henchmen in the moribund GOP alone in their house of sand and fog? When will they build a political ark suitable for a people of faith, who are willing and able to deserve the decent freedom God endows? Alan Keyes | NEEDED: A PARTY THE FOUNDERS WOULD JOIN

    Indeed, when will they [majority of the people still loyal to those principles] leave the elitist faction henchmen in the moribund GOP alone in their house of sand and fog?

    But what if it goes way deeper, maybe "lax entry level standards of Christianity" and the above mentioned "GOP in their house of sand and fog" are connected, pretty much like cause and effect, one leads to another. If it is true, then just leaving GOP in their aforementioned "house of sand and fog" and starting a brand new conservative party is unlikely to help much, IMHO.

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  21. Hillary's 'what difference does it make' comment is more of an l'etat cest moi moment. The particulars don't matter to the Obama administration. It's not about Bengazi. It could be an attack somewhere or a farm subsidy bill or gun laws or just about anything. And none of it matters because Obama's fundamental assertion is that HE is the state. Laws don't matter, Congress doesn't matter, the courts don't matter. Certainly the governed don't matter. All day every day we're told to shut up and sit down as Reichsminister Chris Matthews shouts "WE won you lost you have no right to dissent or even suggest that discussing anything at all is a legitimate thing to do!" (I paraphrase; Matthews has never uttered a sentence that long). Hillary's what does it matter diatribe is truly an "It does not matter because YOU do not matter" statement. Obama's motto has never been anything but ROMA LOCUTA CAUSA FINITA.

    And that is the darker secret behind all of this.

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  22. Also "true to the Christian" and omitting "Judeo" speaks volumes.

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  23. As always fine insight. After long thought, I have determined there is no reason baying at the red moon. Individuals must prepare for a quick exit, for unrest, and remove their children from public school. As for a political action this is simple. FIrst, do not buy the NYT etc, do not pay for movies, and best of all, cancel your cable as it funds the enemy. Second - VOTE IN PRIMARIES. Forget elections where there is little choice. The country is ruled by the primaries and very few people vote there. Your vote is multiplied by ten. For that matter, vote in a Democratic primary if the GOP remains the party of fatted cows. Pessimism is sometimes very wise.

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