I really like Greg Sargent's take on how the Iraq Q is sanitizing the runup to the Iraq Debacle, for everyone but Jeb. and that's not right. Sargent writes:
Jeb’s contortions make good fodder for political reporters (who have mined the unique situation he finds himself in as George W. Bush’s brother) and Democratic political operatives (who are tormenting Jeb for flip-flopping and reviviving bad memories of the aforementioned George W. Bush). Jeb’s Iraq follies are a real political story on their own terms.
But ultimately, this whole line of questioning for Jeb, while creating untold problems for him, is also having the unintended effect of airbrushing out of the picture some really crucial historical facts about the run-up to the Iraq War. And those historical facts indict the woeful performance of Democrats such as Hillary Clinton as well as Republicans, which means that both parties have a strong incentive not to revive them.
The woeful performance of the Media is also whitewashed by this. But Greg is right, given Hillary Clinton's strong position in the Dem nomination race, much of the Dem reflex here will be to pile on Bush and muddy the water for everyone else.
But my biggest concern about Hillary Clinton remains her unmerited faith that American hard power can solve the world's problems.
I hope Bernie Sanders (and Jim Webb and yes, Linc Chafee) call her on this.
The reality is Hillary has never properly explained how she made the mistake she made on Iraq and how she will avoid similar ones in the future. Indeed, as far as I can tell, there has been no conversion from Clinton regarding her unmerited faith in hard American power to solve the world's problems.
I'm hoping Jeb does not create a free pass for her.