Hillary's Letter to Constituents

Senator Clinton adjusts to the prevailing sentiment with her latest missive to her constituents. No bombshell here as she finesses a turnaround. She accepts responsibility for her vote to authorize the use of force but offers no apologies. Her biggest challenge with the optics on Iraq is the fact that her position has often looked indistinguishable from the administration's; she's well aware of this and tackles it by giving a small laundry list of her criticisms. She finishes: We have to continue the fight against terrorism and make sure we apply America's best values and effective strategies in making our world and country a better and safer place. We have to do what is right and smart in the war against terrorists and pursuit of democracy and security. That means repudiating torture which undermines America's values. That means reforming intelligence and its use by decision makers. That means rejecting the Administration's doctrine of preemptive war and their preference to going it alone rather than building real international support. I know when America leads with its values and fearlessly faces the facts, we make the best decisions. That is what is missing at the highest levels of our government, and what we desperately need now – answers to the questions about Iraq that only the President can provide. I hope he will level with the American people and provide us those answers in his Annapolis speech and give us the plan that has been sorely lacking. Strong close, but is it good enough in light of her record of poor choices on Iraq?