Tommy, Seriously, 18 Months is Not 2 Years

The more cynical side of me always thought that the claims about Benghazi being a spontaneous protest against an offensive internet video, as opposed to a coordinated terrorist attack (which it was) were designed specifically so that the question could be delayed long enough to get past the elections cycle, and that by the time the truth actually came to light, that it would have been long enough to declare it “old news.” 

Funny, that.

Seems sort of odd that an administration that still blames everything that is wrong with our nation on the Bush Administration (which left office 6 years ago, last I checked) thinks that something that happened 18 months ago is “old news.” 

By the way, Tommy, this didn't happen "two years ago," dude (to use your words).  Math is hard, I know.  But it seems like last semester when you were still in High School you should have learned about how many months are in a year, and how to count to 24, right?  

By the way, Joel makes a good point here - the Office of the President is kind of a prestigious one.  This means that you could, if you so desired, surround yourself with super-competent, super-smart people.  Really, you'd have your pick of the best of the best, any time you wanted.  So how is it that Tommy Vietor, who appears to be a crude, amateurish douchbro that speaks like he graduated from High School last year and wouldn't know professionalism if it bit both his ass cheeks is in such a prestigious position in the Administration?

I loved the 7 points at the end of the Washington Post Article, because they sort of answer that last question.  So much so that I’ve copied and pasted them here.  They made me smile. 

1. An error like Benghazi happens because multiple people have a hyper-partisan mindset that submerges everything to politics.

2. The staff reflects the boss. If the staff is rude, immature and callous, the boss almost invariably is.

3. The entire purpose of the video story and the delay in turning over documents was to get far enough past the events that someone like Vietor could say, “Old news.”

4. The Obama team doesn’t seem to associate the presidency with a particular level of decorum. Wear jeans. Put your feet up on the desk. Insult opponents. Use coarse language. (The president’s insightful analysis of the House budget was that it was a “stinkburger.”) When such arrogance pervades, mistakes — small and large — happen.

5. The attitude that hostile questioning is illegitimate breeds insularity and groupthink. (How dare they challenge my version of events!)

6.  A president is not the prisoner of bad staff. He hired the staff for a reason. He doesn’t fire them (e.g. Jay Carney) for a reason. They are doing what he wants.

7. It is never just one guy. Vietor’s behavior is hardly unique among current and former Obama staffers. Carney routinely insults the press, “dissembles” (as Jake Tapper described his “It’s not about Benghazi” excuse)