Reply #54: One would not be in a position to run for president if one was not ambitious and calculating. [View All]

[Orangepeel]

Clinton did not have to vote for the IWR. 23 Senators didn't. She made the wrong decision, whether it was because she was taken in by shrub or because she calculated that it wouldn't be a good idea for someone who wanted to be president to risk looking soft on national security. I believe it is the latter, because I think Clinton is as smart as, say, Bob Graham, but I also think that she is more ambitious and calculating (which is one of the reasons why she still has a chance to win the nomination and Graham was the first one out in 2004; one can't successfully run for president without being ambitious and calculating).

I understand Clinton supporters who rightly place the blame on bush and discount Clinton's vote based on the likelihood that Clinton herself, if she had been president, would not have invaded Iraq. Also, she'd definitely be less of a warmonger than McCain.

Anybody can look in their reverse crystal ball and make assumptions about what someone not in the Senate would have done. But it is pointless, IMO. What happened, happened.