Blame Hillary

She used to be rather good-looking, but she totally lost me with the pantsuits.

I'm impressed, and surprised, that, rather than a feud between Obama and the Clintons over who was responsible for the Benghazi bungle, Hillary Clinton has publicly accepted full responsibility.

But perhaps I shouldn't have been.

Some commentators have said this hurts her prospects for 2016. Assuming she has any interest in her prospects in 2016, though, on reflection, I think this might have been the best thing for her to do.

Had she fought back hard now on Obama's attempt to scapegoat her, she might well have caused Obama  to lose the election. If Democrats came to blame her for that, her hopes for 2016 would be dead.

If, on the other hand, she kept mum until after the election, Obama would then have all the more reason to scapegoat her, since she could no longer effectively kick back by doing him any harm--he's not running again. She could have been left twisting in the wind, as the Nixon White House used to say, and her 2016 prospects would have been almost as badly damaged.

Having no other good choice, then, acting now like the good soldier and taking the hit for the team gives her some claim to favors later.

In a way, it even gets back at Obama. She's setting an example that makes him look weaselly by comparison.

In any case, it is entirely likely that she is now telling the truth--that it really was her decision, and Obama and Biden were not really in the loop. If so, she has every reason to expect that this would come out anyway.  Best to step up to it and get it behind her, if possible.