In what seems like a few short decades, Hillary Clinton has dragged Democrats from, “I have a dream” to, “What difference does it make?” To Democrats, all questions are rhetorical. All you need to do is actually provide an answer to set them back on their heels. Hillary tried to substitute outrage and indignation for reasoned argument. She is not the first Democrat to do this and I suspect she will not be the last. Questioned in front of a congressional committee as to how the administration came to so blatantly mischaracterize the incident in Benghazi, Libya, Hillary said, “What difference does it make?” Perhaps I can shed some light on this vexing question.
Hillary followed her, “What difference does it make?” with, “Four Americans are dead.” She failed to mention they were from her unresponsive department. Then she said what mattered was that it never be allowed to happen again. But decades of experience in trouble-shooting have taught me the first thing you try to assess is what caused the problem, which was precisely the question Hillary was avoiding when she made her, “What difference does it make?” comment. Knowing the cause is fundamental; that’s what difference it makes. Hillary would have us believe it does not matter who attacked our diplomatic outpost or why. “What difference does it make?” I cannot imagine how one is to effect a solution without knowing the answers to these questions.
It also makes a difference if the people running the State Department are trying to cover up their own incompetence or corruption. It makes a difference if your intelligence services lack a fundamental understanding of, or are in complete denial about, apparent security threats. It makes a difference if the foreign relationships developed by this administration are so poor that investigators can’t get to the site to investigate the cause, but journalists and neighborhood kids can wander through and pick up evidence and sell it on E-bay. It makes a difference if the President is so unconcerned about the threats that he can’t be bothered to interrupt his campaign for office. It makes a difference if the truth would turn the election, but the President suppresses the truth for that very reason. It makes a difference if this same President, using numerous television networks, corrupts officials within his administration by having them tell lies to the American people and the world at large. It makes a difference to the thousands employed in the Foreign Service who depend on the responsiveness of this administration to ensure they do not go home in body bags.
It makes a difference if a few months after this incident more Americans are killed in a hostage taking scheme in Algeria by elements advancing the same cause. It makes a difference if we are told al Qaeda is decimated but the truth is that they are expanding their reach into additional countries. It makes a difference if we think there is a fundamental difference between Americans being killed by al Qaeda or any of the scores of other Islamist terror groups. This is but one war, with one enemy and many fronts. It makes a difference if we act as if we know this. It makes a difference if the American people can trust that their elected leaders will not manipulate them with outright lies and half truths.
Some may have found it curious that Hillary Clinton came to the hearings wearing Buddy Holly’s glasses. Fox News explains that the glasses are a hat tip to her undiagnosed concussion. But I could not help reflecting on “Brain Games,”(Episode 1 ) an interesting series currently running on The National Geographic Channel. In this series you learn how what we see and even what we hear are altered by light, shadow and context. I asked myself, ‘are these glasses just a prop to make the obviously stupid and blatantly inaccurate things Hillary was saying sound intelligent and accurate?’ To me, this is an obvious manipulation. When you are being manipulated, it makes a difference if you know it. ~ Terrell AronSpeer The Hillary Shuffle
