“Obama takes blame for strike that killed hostages by: Andrew Beatty, Agence France-Presse
“President Barack Obama said he took “full responsibility” on Thursday for the accidental killing of an American and Italian hostage during an apparent drone strike on an Al-Qaeda compound in Pakistan.
“Lifting the lid on a classified operation, a solemn Obama expressed his “deepest apologies” to the families of 73-year-old economic advisor Warren Weinstein and 39-year-old aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto.
“Obama gave few details of the botched action, which officials suggested was a drone strike that took place on an Al-Qaeda lair in January after hundreds of hours of surveillance.
“The strike also killed Ahmed Faruq, an American described as a leader of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.
“It was also revealed that Al-Qaeda’s English-language spokesman, a California rocker-turned jihadist, Adam Gadahn, died in a separate strike.
“The White House said neither Al-Qaeda member was specifically targeted, raising further questions about the credibility of US intelligence.
“ ‘As president and as commander-in-chief, I take full responsibility for all our counterterrorism operations, including the one that inadertently took the lives of Warren and Giovanni,’ Obama said.
“ ‘I profoundly regret what happened. On behalf of the United States government, I offer our deepest apologies to the families.
“ ‘It is a cruel and bitter truth that in the fog of war generally and our fight against terrorists specifically, mistakes — sometimes deadly mistakes — can occur.’
“Obama said he informed Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi personally about his administration’s findings.
“Italy’s foreign ministry described the deaths as a ‘tragic and fatal error by our US allies’ but said ‘terrorists’were entirely to blame.”
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As everybody knows, this is the SOP whenever a tragedy results from an operation approved by the Office of the President — to show your face and take full responsibility. The protocol does not include hiding after the news had broken out and disappearing for three days, or attending the launch and party of a car manufacturer while the bodies of the fallen are being officially received by the families and the government. it does not include fending off questions with “let’s wait for the investigation report” (then, later disowning that investigation report)
It does not include sheepishly introducing in your speech: “the ground commander did not follow my instructions! i told him to coordinate.” Or ruing: “the chief of the operations fooled me, he deceived me!” Or consoling the bereaved families by explaining the strategy with “marunong ba kayo maglaro ng computer games… (do you know how to play computer games”).
Diplomacy 101, with too little and too late into the PNoy presidency.
to be fair, PNoy is not perceived to have been involved in any major corruption scandal.
Life happened — deaths occurred in catastrophic circumstances, in the the tens of thousands, or thru major sacrifices, during his term and he felt he had to be defensive — there lies the hubris of the Liberal Party.
Purely from a campaign strat point-of-view, this site made an instant, cursory, snippet-review of the Hillary opening salvo 20 minutes after it was released, at http://wp.me/p2mko-6s1
as media content without any political commentary — let’s leave the “commentating” to pundits. (that snippet-review closed with: “Obviously, Team Hillary is targeting the younger demographic set, but this kind of traditional content embedded on social media will not do – it needs to follow this up with a live, interactive format on Twitter/ Instagram YouTube/ FB etc.xxx”
A quick survey thru search engines shows the following reviews at noon and this afternoon of the same vid. (By the way, the morning after, Team Hillary followed up the vid with live tweets of her road trip to Iowa.)
Snippets of the reviews, verbatim:
From vox.com: Quote“(F)ascinating piece of filmmaking xxx The video attempts not to minimize Clinton’s placement in her campaign, but to portray it as a natural outgrowth of a mass, populist movement.” Closed-quote
From CBS News: Quote “Clinton doesn’t appear in her own announcement video until it’s almost over.xxx The video reflects a philosophy laid out in a Clinton campaign mission statement obtained by CBS News. ‘We are humble,’ it reads. ‘We take nothing for granted.’ Xxx In fact, advisers say this campaign is likely to look less like her first White House bid and more like her run for a Senate seat from New York in 2000, when she went on a listening tour of the state and even sometimes spent the night in supporters’ homes.” Closed-quote
From the New York Times: Quote “In the video, she does not appear until after 90 seconds of images featuring personal stories of others, each describing how they are getting ready to start something new.” Closed-quote
From the LA Times: Quote “(T)he focus will be on the American people, not on Clinton; on their needs and concerns and not her reach for history. xxx The shift was abundantly clear in the contrast between her 2007 announcement video and the one she aired Sunday as she jumped into the race — each just over two minutes in length. xxx Last time: Clinton sitting in a sumptuously appointed living room, alone as she faces the camera. xxx This time: She doesn’t even appear in her own video until a minute and a half in, after cameos by more than a dozen people representing a demographic cross section of America. Even then the view is the back of her head. xxx Last time: Thirty-one uses of the word ‘I,’ twice the use of the word ‘we.’ xxx This time: Only five uses of the word ‘I’ as Clinton moves to make her campaign a communal effort, and one that focuses strongly on the economic unease that has persisted during the two terms of the man who defeated her in 2008, President Obama.” Closed-quote.
From the dailycaller.com: Quote “Hillary Clinton’s campaign might want to reconsider its new slogan: ‘It’s Your Time.’ xxx (It is) Similar To Name Of Online Dating Site For Mature Americans …” Closed-quote
