A reader writes:
I understood your reasons for not advocating intervention in Libya and your reservations going forward, and I also appreciate how you recognize the incredible progress that has been achieved thus far (one of the great virtues of a real-life blog). This has been a major development for the Obama administration. People were already coining the "Obama doctrine," offering Libya as an example of how the US can rethink its role and still deliver on strategic (and even moral) imperatives, and that case has only grown stronger in the past weeks.
But I think it's important to remember Hilary Clinton in all this. As you've noted several times in the past, Obama was very reluctant to proceed and it was Hillary, at the center of it, who fought hard to change his mind.
I say this only to highlight what an exceptional cabinet member can do for a president and the administration. I think a shout-out to Hillary Clinton is much deserved from you, given the dismissive ways you reduced Hillary's perspective (collective "Clinton Guilt"?) as trusted advisor to the president, an advisor who can account for events unfolding where the executive cannot dedicate full focus or appear physically to assess for him/herself. I know you have nodded to her great performance as Secretary of State in the past, but on Libya you've been quiet. Given your past treatment, I think a nice hat tip is in order. Surely Obama and Hillary shared a fist bump on news of Qaddafi's death, so restrained celebration or recognition would not be out of context.
(Photo: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton listens to a question during a press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on October 20, 2011. By Kevin Lamarque/AFP/Getty Images)
The Dish 