The traditional media is missing a major part of the story over Hillary's Bosnia lie.
Hillary's lie doesn't just tell us that she inflated her national security experience, or that she is this week's target in the all too familiar game of "gotcha" the traditional media plays ever election cycle, rather, the process by which the Bosnia lie became the story of the week tells us about Hillary's political instincts and judgment. Instincts and judgment that can play a major role in her success or failure as President
More after the jump.
Let's go back to last Monday, March 17th. Hillary did not just suddenly decide to retell her discredited story of having to duck her head because of a risk of sniper fire. She was asked what her response was to Sinbad's statement that a previous version of the story told by Hillary a few weeks earlier had been a gross exaggeration of the truth.
At that moment, realizing that she had been caught in a lie (perhaps, at this point it was just an exaggeration), Hillary had a choice, she could continue to lie about the story or she could acknowledge that she may have inflated the story for effect (or misspoke). The choice she made -- inflating the lie even further -- tells us about the real Hillary Clinton. She made matters much worse by perpetuating the lie. She even lied again when she said she "misspoke" (yes, it's a lie to say that she "misspoke," when she said what she intended to say).
I once had a coach in high school who liked to repeat the mantra, "don't make trouble worse," to us everyday. This is exactly what Hillary Clinton did by choosing to continue her lies once she had been caught.
But, this isn't just a campaign problem, this is a leadership problem. Bill Clinton went from having to acknowledge an embarrassing affair to being impeached because once caught, he chose to lie about his affair with Monica Lewinsky under oath and lie about it again to the American people.
Imagine how different this country may have been today had he merely told the truth and faced the smaller consequences from the beginning.
In both cases, the Clintons decided that they would continue to lie until faced with undeniable evidence (the videotape for Hillary and the blue dress for Bill).
Compare this to the way Barack Obama addressed the comments by his pastor openly and honestly.
Also, compare Hillary's unwillingness to admit a mistake to the current President. How much damage was done to the country in lives, money and international goodwill, by the President's unwillingness to admit that Sec. Rumsfeld had done a poor job of planning the post-War occupation? How about the fact that the same man, Sec. Chertof, who oversaw the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, before Katrina still has his job? How about the refusal of the administration to admit that the subprime mortgage market was in trouble until it was too late?
Would a President Hillary Clinton refuse to admit her mistakes and make trouble worse as she has done both with this latest flap and her refusal for years to admit she was wrong about the Iraq War?
The real story here is that Hillary Clinton has a major character flaw that has now been exposed; namely, an unwillingness to admit an error until it is too late.