by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright March 26, 2008
All Rights Reserved.

aying she “misspoke” when she gave reporters a detailed account about how she was forced to take cover from snipers in 1996 at Bosnia's Tuzla Air Base, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) finds herself in hot water. She's based her campaign on her superior “experience” to rival Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.), telling voters she's ready to lead on “day-one.” “Everyone else was told to sit on their bulletproof vests,” Clinton informed reporters last week. “And we came in, in an evasive maneuver . . . There was no greeting ceremony, and we basically were told to run to our cars. No, that is what happened,” completely at odds with CBS News showing the First Lady meeting with teachers and students. Hilllary's credibility problems during her husband's presidency, embroiled in Whitewater, Filegate, Travelgate, etc., prompted on Feb. 4, 1996 New York Times columnist William Safire to call her a “congenital liar.”

      Safire caused a big stir correctly unraveling the early stages of Clinton's spin, culminating in its full glory when then President Bill Clinton answered a Paula Corbin Jones' grand jury: “It depends what the meaning of the word is, is.” Hillary now faces with her gaffe on Bosnia new challenges to her credibility. Calling her mistake a “misstatement” or “minor blip,” Hillary hopes to divert attention back to Baracks' minister controversy. “He would not have been my pastor,” Clinton said, keeping Barack's pastor remarks in the headlines. “You don't chose your family, but you chose what church you want to attend,” shifting the dialogue away from answering more questions about Bosnia. “We've said that's all we're going to say on that,” Deputy Communications Director Phil Singer said on a conference call to reporters covering the Bosnia story.

      Hillary deviated from the script written in her memoir that gave a detailed account of her Bosnian trip. “Due to reports of snipers in the hills a round the airstrip, were forced to cut short an event on the tarmac with local children, though we did have time to meet with them and their teachers and to learn how hard the had worked during the war to continue classes in any safe spot they could find,” Clinton wrote in her 1993 memoir “Living History.” No amount of exhaustion or amnesia could concoct her story about ducking to run from snipers' bullets. “I was sleep-deprived and I misspoke,” Hillary told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, engaging in damage control, while the Bosnia debacle promised to upend her flagging campaign. If it weren't only for Bosnia, the problem might have mercifully disappeared. Nobel laureate David Trimble raised more questions about Hillary inflated claims in Northern Ireland.

      Calling Ms. Clinton's claims of helping broker the Northern Ireland peace accord “a wee bit silly,” Lord David Trimble, who shared the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize with National Social Democratic and Labour Party leader John Hume, poured cold water on Hillary's claims. “We would not have peace today had it not been for Hillary's hard work in Northern Ireland,” said campaign manager Terry McCauliffe. “As far as I am concerned, Mrs. Clinton was as relevant to peace in Northern Ireland as Tony Blair's wife or the ex-wife of Bertie Ahern [the Irish prime minister],” disputing her claims of playing any significant role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland. When Northern Ireland adds to Hillary's claims about Bosnia, it creates of disturbing pattern of serial exaggeration, prompting Safire to call her a “congenital liar.” Hillary's “misstatements” have rescued the Obama campaign.

      Obama found himself in quicksand trying to account for racist and anti-American statements by Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ's retired pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright. With Sept. 11 still on voters' minds, Barack could ill-afford to associate himself with any type of hate speech. His March 18 speech on race created the impression that Obama sympathized with Wright and those of his generation that lived through so much discrimination. In today's harsh world of political correctness, that was not the response expected by white voters. While Hillary sat back and watched Barack grilled last week, it's her turn to trade places. Her statements on Bosnia and Northern Ireland open up old wounds during Hillary's White House days. Hillary now finds herself on the defensive, trying to explain exaggerated claims of superior experience to Sen. Obama.

      Obama's campaign could not have had a fuller Easter basket, treated with Hillary's mistakes about Bosnia and Northern Ireland. Backpedaling caused former Vice President Al Gore to lose credibility with voters in the 2000. With Hillary hopelessly behind in pledge delegates, her latest gaffe adds more pressure for her step aside and unify the party. Only two weeks ago, her husband held out the possibility of inviting Barack to join the bottom of the ticket. Hillary spokesman Howard Wolfson inadvertently reminded voters about her discrepancy. “That is what she wrote in her book,” trying to explain Hillary's misstatements. “That is what she has said many, many times and on one occasion she “misspoke,” ignoring the harsh reality of losing credibility. She gave too many details on more than one occasion to blame the mistake on campaign fatigue.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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