Why Hillary should apologize for Iraq vote

Writing in Slate, Will Saletan makes a convincing argument that Hillary's refusal to apologize for her vote on Iraq is a mistake. Here's how it begins:

Five years ago, Hillary Clinton supported a Senate resolution authorizing President Bush to use force in Iraq. So did I. It took me four years to admit this was a mistake. I've been wondering when Clinton would admit it. Now, from campaign insiders quoted in the New York Times, comes the answer: never. As she told voters a few days ago: "If the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that vote or has said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from."

This is an amazingly stupid and arrogant position. If she sticks to it, it will probably kill her candidacy. And it should.

According to Clinton's advisers, she has taken this position for several reasons. She believes in "responsibility" and would want congressional deference if she's president. She wants to look "firm," because that's what voters want. She thinks an apology would look like a gimmick and a flip-flop, repeating the mistakes of Al Gore and John Kerry. That's the "box" she's trying to avoid.

This is a misreading of history, politics, character, and common sense.

It's also worth noting that Hillary's refusal to apologize is fueling some of the pathological news coverage recently highlighted on the Daily Howler. To be fair, there's no excuse for the lousy journalism that she's facing. But her heavily parsed position seems to be making it worse by (a) confusing reporters and (b) creating complexity that they try to cut through with (often misleading) narratives.

Comments

[Eoin Nyhan]

Apoligize? And what have the likes of sean hannity going around the country getting crowds to sing flip-flop, flip-flop again? It makes the swing voters who may not care one way or other think - in a time when the US is at war - that Hillary would not be a strong commander in chief. And IMO people who have no interest in politics WILL remember a a catchy tune like flip-flop, flip-flop if nothing else.

Secondly Hillary voted based on the false evidence presented. She wasnt the only person to do so. So remind me again who should be apoligizing?!

Dont let the Republicans make the Iraq war a democratic issue...when its the the issue that should be tearing the republican party apart - not the dems.