Paul Krugman: Hillary, Wrong Is Right

[Doondoo]

Many people are perplexed by the uproar over Senator Hillary Clinton’s refusal to say, as former Senator John Edwards has, that she was wrong to vote for the Iraq war resolution. Why is it so important to admit past error? And yes, it was an error — she may not have intended to cast a vote for war, but the fact is that the resolution did lead to war; she may not have believed that President Bush would abuse the power he was granted, but the fact is that he did.

The answer can be summed up in two words: heckuva job. Or, if you want a longer version: Medals of Freedom to George Tenet, who said Saddam had W.M.D., Tommy Franks, who failed to secure Iraq, and Paul Bremer, who botched the occupation.

For the last six years we have been ruled by men who are pathologically incapable of owning up to mistakes. And this pathology has had real, disastrous consequences. The situation in Iraq might not be quite so dire — and we might even have succeeded in stabilizing Afghanistan — if Mr. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney had been willing to admit early on that things weren’t going well or that their handpicked appointees weren’t the right people for the job.

The experience of Bush-style governance, together with revulsion at the way Karl Rove turned refusal to admit error into a political principle, is the main reason those now-famous three words from Mr. Edwards — “I was wrong” — matter so much to the Democratic base.

The base is remarkably forgiving toward Democrats who supported the war. But the base and, I believe, the country want someone in the White House who doesn’t sound like another George Bush. That is, they want someone who doesn’t suffer from an infallibility complex, who can admit mistakes and learn from them.


http://select.nytimes.com/gst/tsc.html?URI=http://select.nytimes.com/2007/02/19/opinion/19krugman.html&OQ=_rQ3D1&OP=6fd14c76Q2FQ7BQ3CQ7DBQ7BXy_ccXQ7BQ7CII5Q7BIQ7CQ7BQ25tQ7Bc.oTocTQ7BQ25tg_-bkQ27TQ2B)Xki

[babylonsister]

1. Spot on, Krugman. Her inability to admit she made a mistake also

reminded me of the current wh resident. Doesn't she see the similarities? You'd think she'd back away from any comparisons that can be made.

[ShortnFiery]

9. You put it well, Paul Krugman

Score another jab for better serving Working Americans before Political Elite ambitions.

[bahrbearian]

2. She should take a page from Bill,, he was able to apologize to

the country because of an affair, maybe she could do the same, to gain forgiveness for her affair with the GOP

[demnan]

3. This guy is right so often

he succinctly gets exactly how I have been thinking about Mrs. Clinton.

I think the thing I dislike about her personally is her inability to admit to weakness. I couldn't even finish the woman's book, I just couldn't stand her.

[Cha]

14. Same here..

"Infallibiltiy complex" hits it succinctly on the head.

But, shillary is a dlcer and that's what they do..emulate the bushites for what-ever reason.

[Raven]

4. "It was a mistake, we were misled"

What's wrong with that? It would have gotten her off the hook and it would have nailed Bush. Simple statement and it's over...off the table...out of the news. Instead she has created a little political monster for herself which is not going to go away precisely, as Krugman points out...because people are going to be making connections between her and Bush and they don't want a repeat.

[papau]

5. "President Bush would abuse the power he was granted" - w/o trust Government decides nothing - Krug

is better at economics -

This is a poor piece of logic that conflates the response appropriate to Bush's errors and lies with the response to anyone that trusted him a year after 911.

Hillary has said she was wrong - as in the 93 universal health bill - so this screed falls on its face from the opening thought.

[paulk]

13. you're right

Krugman is one of my favorites, but this piece is, as you say, "a poor piece of logic".



It's a shame to see Krugman hoist up a gun for the circular firing squad....

[HereSince1628]

6. IMHO This isn't only Hillary's problem it's a symptom of DCD behavior

The DCDems have made heroic efforts to keep from looking bad in any way for at least the past five years. Hillary has a coat-tail hung up on this for the same reasons Democrats are held back from the assertive corrective actions the nation needs. No one wants to tarnish an image.

Although I'm not a Clinton-backer, I'd can't blame Hillary more than others in Washington for reflecting behavior that is pretty much mainstream DCDem behavior.

BTW as a point of information I saw a video Dodd on some political show saying his vote on IWR was a mistake. Are there others besides Edwards and Dodd?

[Demeter]

7. EXACTLY!!!

And those who cannot learn from current events are doomed to reap their predecessors' punishments....Bush may escape his errors, but the consequences will fall on the Next fool in line, especially if she tries to ape his "infallibility".

[pretzel4gore]

8. class loyalty versus public service

class loyalty is why bush is still in office, ms clinton obviously a member of the bush class, and will never allow full spotlight put onto the fact the 'war' was illegal (which might happen if she admits she wrong to support it 1st place)
these people (upper class twittery) are looking ahead, watching us and trying to chart a course through the rapids (while loose cannon ie junyer bush rolls around the deck)
it's weird a cartoonist hasn't used current events in a real howler, it would be so easy!
(this aint a putdown of hillary, or the democratic party. but our society does likes its myths-we are a classless society, anyone can be prez, you get rich if work hard etc- and class is a major factor in how politics unfolds, and what we're told about it)

[ShortnFiery]

10. It's termed "The Political Elite" class and includes journalists and

Strategists such as Tweety, Blitzer, Brazille, Begalla, Carville, O'Donnell, Scarborough, etc. etc. who all claim to be OBJECTIVE when it's really for "the haves" first. :grr:

[Kajsa]

11. Hillary says, -Don't like it? Vote for someone else, then.

Admitting one's mistakes is a sign of maturity
and integrity. Georgie has neither one.
Hillary needs to learn this valuable life skill now.

You might be interested to read this from the NY Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/us/politics/18clinton.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin

Yet antiwar anger has festered, and yesterday morning Mrs. Clinton rolled out a new response to those demanding contrition: She said she was willing to lose support from voters rather than make an apology she did not believe in.

“If the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that vote or has said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from,” Mrs. Clinton told an audience in Dover, N.H., in a veiled reference to two rivals for the nomination, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina.

[Cha]

15. Yeh, I know she doesn't give

a good shit. And I don't give a shit about her.

[Larkspur]

17. I will vote for someone else in the primary and general election, if she is the Dem nominee

No way will I vote for Hillary.

[Hand]

12. Link to full article at pottersville...

http://welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com/

Scroll down a ways.

[applegrove]

16. Thanks for posting.