Rahm Emanuel famously offered the advice not to waste a good crisis, and apparently that’s the new motto of the Barack Obama administration.  In fact, they have so much fondness for that strategy that they want to share it with our allies.  Hillary Clinton told the European Parliament that they shouldn’t allow the economic meltdown to pass without exploiting the panic for more statist policies.  And that’s only a slight exaggeration (via Mitch Berg):

The financial crisis offers a new chance to rebuild economies based on a greener model with less dependence on unreliable overseas energy imports, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday.

“Never waste a good crisis,” Clinton told a hearing at the European Parliament. “And when it comes to the economic crisis, don’t waste it when it can have a very positive impact on climate change and energy security.” …  “This is a propitious time … we can actually begin to demonstrate our willingness to confront this.  We are making up the best we can for lost time,” she added.

No, Saul Alinksy didn’t say that, or at least he didn’t say it first.  Machiavelli originally said, “Never waste the opportunities offered by a good crisis.”  I’m not sure which leadership strategy is more worrisome; at least Machiavelli relied on competence and success.

I’m not sure if we’re seeing Machiavelli or the Peter Principle at play in the new administration.  The incompetence has been so pronounced and so widespread that one almost wants to believe that some master plan is at work that will make sense in retrospect.  On the other hand, any plan that starts off by destroying Wall Street and the capital investors is a plan I don’t want to see succeed, regardless of its eventual denouement.

Regardless, having Hillary cackle with glee over the opportunities for statist global-warming policies this crisis has created provides the administration with some highly questionable optics.  I guess she’s got a job and doesn’t have to worry about the economic meltdown.