POLITICS-What difference did it make? Quite a bit--but we each saw what we wanted to see, and saw exactly what we needed to see. Those who presumed that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the victim of a partisan witchhunt got their conclusions affirmed by the press that covered it, and those who presumed that Clinton, President Obama and the State Department did everything they could to lie, obfuscate and distract also had their suspicions confirmed.
In other words, bias abounds in our divided nation (including the bias of about everyone reading this), and the era where both the GOP and Democratic political leadership and voter bases united to throw out former President Richard Nixon for lying to the American people is OVER.
And the era where the Democratic and Republican Party leaderships are respected by their respective voter bases, during a political season where outsiders rule the roost over party insider-favorites, is also...OVER.
And the era where an American citizen can go to a single news source and learn the truth is also...OVER.
For those of us living in La-La Land, we were treated to a Los Angeles Times journalistic interpretation that almost read word for word like its editorial page, while Fox News and other conservative outlets excoriated the media for declaring Ms. Clinton victorious in the hearings.
In other words, we have the pro-Democratic party (perhaps synonymous with the anti-Republican party) concluding--as they always proclaimed--that "there was nothing to see here, just move along" with respect to the Benghazi issue, and that while it was a horrible tragedy, it wasn't a coverup and an impeachable offense to or for anyone.
Even 2012 debate moderator Candy Crowley, at a pivotal moment in the Romney/Obama debates, jumped in to defend the President and shut down challenger Mitt Romney for even bringing up the issue.
On the other hand, we have Republicans, conservatives (many of whom have rejected the Republican Party leadership and no longer call themselves Republicans) and independents asking what the heck the Obama Administration was doing when it repeatedly proclaimed the Benghazi massacre the result of a YouTube video (and put that video maker in jail for it) rather than a preplanned 9-11 attack on our embassy.
Democrats (not all, of course, but those who are as loyal to their party as any sports fan would be for their favorite team) came to the conclusion long ago that the reason for the attack was immaterial--it was a tragedy, and steps had to be taken to prevent that from happening again, but that everything else was just a partisan attack on President Obama and his likely future successor Hillary Clinton.
Other Americans--who also have the right to their opinions--finally know what the Trey Gowdy-led Benghazi panel unearthed (despite the perpetual brayings of Democratic Defender-In-Chief Elijah Cummings):
1) The nation--even the families of the four victims--were perpetually lied to about some unrelated YouTube video that was bandied about by the Obama Administration in full re-election mode while that very night and the next day following the attack. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (as per the now-unearthed e-mails) mentioned to her family and both Egyptian and Libyan officials that the attack had NOTHING to do with that video.
2) The hidden e-mails, and the question of WHY those e-mails were hidden by Secretary of State Clinton, shows that she DID lie (repeatedly) about the video...even to the faces of the grieving family members--something that will be much less politically defensible to voters than decrying Republicans for being overly-partisan.
3) And while ardent Democrats will admire Hillary Clinton's poise under fire, just as they did the "What Difference Does It Make?" line she used against her detractors in the Senate, those who distrust her will--just as they despised the "What Difference Does It Make?"--latch onto the laughing spell she had in response to Republican Martha Roby's questions and wonder what was so damned funny about such a tragic event.
So we have the same scenario we had before this all began: Democrats who support a Democratic presidency win in 2016 still think the hearings are a waste of money, Republicans and others who remember throwing out their own President Nixon for lying about a Watergate scandal (which had no effect on Nixon's overwhelming re-election) are infuriated that lying is no longer acceptable as grounds for resignation and impeachment ...
... and it will be up to independents to determine whether it's "business as usual" for Washington to lie to the American public, and not worth the fuss over Benghazi.
... and it will be up to independents--after pro-Hillary Clinton Americans conclude that the panels were a waste of time and money, and after anti-Hillary Clinton Americans conclude that the panels DID show that President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton lied to the families of the victims and the American people, to determine whether or not this tragedy in Benghazi WAS avoidable, and that the lying WAS an important issue.
It will be up to independents to determine whether Benghazi truly made a difference or not.
(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected]. He also does regular commentary on the Mark Isler Radio Show on AM 870, and co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 87
Pub: Oct 27, 2015
