Does anyone advising President Obama and the secretary of state really believe that this kind of partisanship and trash-talking abroad about another American president is really going to buy us much long-term goodwill among either our friends or our adversaries? Do they imagine that this sort of thing really helps to advance U.S. national interests?
Michael Crowley points out in The New Republic that Sec. Clinton was applauded when she said these words. Since Bush and Cheney are still less popular than a root canal without anesthesia, it isn't a surprise.
Long-term, though, we need to show that the promise Obama embodies for the world comes true. There is all the difference in the world between a salesman who offers you a new and improved mousetrap, and the mousetrap actually catching more mice faster, easier, and with less clean-up.
For now, though, it is enough for John Hannah to say that Sec. Clinton must have thought our interests are advanced by pointing out that she does not represent Bush/Cheney. We are all still trying to wake up from that nightmare, and this was a good shake on the shoulder.
