On the eve of the second presidential debate, conservatives are accusing President Obama of passing the buck regarding lapses in security that resulted in the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi last month.
“I take responsibility,” Secretary Hillary Clinton told CNN Monday. “I’m in charge of the state department’s 60,000-plus people all over the world, 275 posts.
Of course, the timing of this announcement — coming right before what many believe is a do-or-die debate for President Obama — raised suspicions that the move might have been political.
As RedState’s Erick Erickson noted, Obama’s past comments regarding Mitt Romney’s oversight of Bain now seem especially interesting.
“[A]s president of the United States,” Obama said during an interview this summer, “it’s pretty clear to me that I’m responsible for folks who are working in the federal government and you know, Harry Truman said the buck stops with you.”
Meanwhile, tensions ran high among political pundits commenting on the development — as was evidenced by this exchange between the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin and BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kacynski Monday night:
This is just mean. RT @jrubinblogger: First Bill humiliates her and now Obama does.. Hillary no feminist, more like doormat
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) October 16, 2012
It’s going to be an interesting few weeks…