The battle to exonerate or condemn President Obama for the deaths of four Americans in Libya last month has been super-charged by the achingly close presidential campaign.
Electoral-season imperatives won’t be able to wrench a definitive answer, though, about how and why Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three others died.
Additional details emerge with each subsequent news report on the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. They don’t all point to the same conclusions, though, or answer the most important question: What could have been done to better protect the Americans?
It seems like a foregone conclusion that someone in the U.S. government miscalculated or miscommunicated. The president ultimately bears responsibility for the safety of American government employees stationed oversees. As president, Obama eventually will have to explain the tragedy.
But that does not mean that conservatives, like Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn, will get their way when they demand an answer right now, before Tuesday’s election.
Obama said in an interview with a Denver television reporter last week that his biggest concern is finding the killers.
"We want to make sure we get it right,” Obama said, “particularly because I have made a commitment to the families impacted as well as to the American people: We're going to bring those folks to justice.”
Republicans have claimed that amounts to stalling, but Obama got important backing last week from a somewhat unexpected corner. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that because of the “fog of war,” assessing the Benghazi attack will not be quick or easy, adding, “It takes a little while to know precisely what has happened."
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-benghazi-obama-romney-campaign-20121030,0,5017531.story
Electoral-season imperatives won’t be able to wrench a definitive answer, though, about how and why Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three others died.
Additional details emerge with each subsequent news report on the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. They don’t all point to the same conclusions, though, or answer the most important question: What could have been done to better protect the Americans?
It seems like a foregone conclusion that someone in the U.S. government miscalculated or miscommunicated. The president ultimately bears responsibility for the safety of American government employees stationed oversees. As president, Obama eventually will have to explain the tragedy.
But that does not mean that conservatives, like Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn, will get their way when they demand an answer right now, before Tuesday’s election.
Obama said in an interview with a Denver television reporter last week that his biggest concern is finding the killers.
"We want to make sure we get it right,” Obama said, “particularly because I have made a commitment to the families impacted as well as to the American people: We're going to bring those folks to justice.”
Republicans have claimed that amounts to stalling, but Obama got important backing last week from a somewhat unexpected corner. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that because of the “fog of war,” assessing the Benghazi attack will not be quick or easy, adding, “It takes a little while to know precisely what has happened."
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-benghazi-obama-romney-campaign-20121030,0,5017531.story
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