Has the Dem infighting for 2012 begun? Is Hillary exploiting Pres. Obama's waffling over Afghanistan to launch an offensive against her ostensible boss?
The question arises after former senior Clinton aide Dee Dee Myers described PBO as looking "indecisive" and "pushed around" in his handling of Afghanistan, and Hillary herself laid down a heavy marker, describing in graphic terms the dangers of an al Qaeda resurgence were the Taliban permitted to succeed.
It all went down on this evening's Hardball.
DEE DEE MYERS: Now, you know, things have deteriorated a great deal in the last six months [i.e., on Obama's watch!]. Not only escalating casualties this month, we had the debacle of the elections in Afghanistan. Things have gotten a lot tougher and the president rightly has said let's take a look, let's not send resources after a bad strategy. Let's reevaluate our strategy. On one level that's a solid thing: you want the president to rethink these things and to be clear before we make a plan. On the other hand, it's making him look indecisive, and as Pat said, he's being pushed around by the generals, by the Secretary of State and by others.
Whoa! A Clintonista accuses PBO of looking "indecisive" and pushed around by "the Secretary of State"? Last time I looked, that would be Hillary.
Speaking of whom, cut to this Clinton clip . . .
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Here's the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, his former rival, you're right, I think she's putting up a situation here that he's going to have to contend with. Here's Secretary Clinton.
HILLARY CLINTON: Some people say, well, al Qaeda's no longer in Afghanistan. If Afghanistan were taken over by the Taliban, I can't tell you how fast al Qaeda would be back in Afghanistan.
MATTHEWS: Wow! Dee Dee, she's his ally, she works for him as his top foreign policy minister. She's dictating policy here. I'm not being tough here: I'm just stating the fact. How does he respond to that?
MYERS: Yeah, I don't think she made a secret of what she thinks.
"Former rival"? Is this the beginning of a serious Clinton insurgency? Will the MSM at large report the rift?
