Clinton further displayed tough talk in an interview airing on Good Morning America Tuesday, ABC News’ Chris Cuomo asked Clinton what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons.
“I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president we will attack Iran,” Clinton said. “In the next ten years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them.”
I find myself in the very curious position here of being to the left of Hillary Clinton on Iran. Rather than have another debate on whether the U.S. needs to add to Israel’s already impressive deterrent capabilities, let me ask you this: At whom is this very heavy-handed pander directed? Pretty obviously it’s aimed at Israel’s lefty supporters, but are there so many undecideds among them that the net gain from this will offset the net loss among less ardent Israel supporters who’ll be predictably freaked out by it? That is to say, what’s the point of this latest push — starting with the “get out of the kitchen” ad this morning — to frame her as tougher than Obama? The left isn’t exactly crying out for a more muscular foreign policy. All I can guess is that they think Obama’s whining about the debate has legs insofar as it taps into a greater overall wimpiness on his part, which is a fine strategy for the general but sort of … stupid for a Democratic primary. What good does this do her?
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