Hillary Clinton was asked a question during a town meeting, and she did a major smooth-talking waltz around the real issue.

Woman: “I just have to know the answer to this question. You said that if you were president in 2002, you would have not gone into war.”

Hillary Clinton: “Right.”

Woman: “However, how can you then explain the seeming contradiction from your voting to support the invasion in Iraq and that statement.” (Many people in the crowd begin to clap).

Hillary Clinton: “Knowing what we know now, we would have never voted to give this president authority at all because he should not have been trusted with the authority that we gave him.” (Many people in the crowd begin to clap). “But I can tell you this. If I had been president in 2003, I never would have started this war, and if it is still going on when I am president in 2009, I will end it.”

Should I Ask the Question Again?
- Does this also mean that she can not be trusted? If she believes that she gave the okay to someone that shouldn’t be trusted?
- Did she not “start the war” by voting for it as one of our representatives with power to do so?
- She says “knowing what we know now,” which still doesn’t address how she could say “If I were president in 2002 . . .”
- Notice how she says “we” instead of I. The question was about her.
- Notice how she talks about not trusting the president when the question was about her contradictions.
- Either she’s that good, or the people in the crowd are morons. Maybe it’s a combination. (She is a lawyer).

A Final Thought on Hillary Clinton’s Rhetoric
The sad part to me is how confident she is in her answer and how quickly the people are to clap at her complete avoidance of the real question. This will happen a lot during the next 20 months, and it will happen on both sides and with a lot of candidates. Her PR team obviously sees this as a fairly substantial issue, so they want to show her candidly addressing the question and receiving support for her response.