When Asked If Hillary Was Responsible For Benghazi, Obama Silently Walks Away

Via @johnekdahl, from the Huffington Post:

Pool: "Reporter: 'Is Hillary to blame for Benghazi?' Obama: Silence. Kept walking."

Meanwhile a senior adviser to Romney says Romney will demand that Obama "man up" on Benghazi.

“I think Governor Romney, quite properly, will be asking questions, probing, and trying to ask the president to man up, accept his responsibility and explain to the American people the failure that resulted in four American deaths,” Williamson said.

He later added of Obama: “He can run but he’s not going to be able to hide. He’s going to have to man up and tell the American people what he knew, when he knew it and what he’s doing.”

Last time the Romney campaign floated what appears, in retrospect, to be disinformation, telling Obama to expect zingers. There were a few statements that do in fact qualify as "zingers" ("You don't just pick the winners and the losers -- you pick the losers"), but Romney's main thrust seemed to be substance and more substance.

So I don't know if this is more of that sort of thing. It could be that Romney isn't sure that Libya will come up in this debate -- perhaps Crowely will protect Obama, figuring it's bound to come up in the foreign policy debate -- and Romney wants this at least in Obama's head during the debate.

Wheels-within-wheels strategizing aside: It's probably served perfectly straight. Romney probably does plan to do something much like this, minus the blustery "man up" language. If Crowely, who's declared she's going to insert herself into this like crazy, allows him to get a word in edgewise.

posted by Ace at 12:39 PM

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