In a CNN interview, Hillary Clinton said “I take responsibilty” for the attacks that killed the American ambassador to Libya. “I want to avoid some kind of political gotcha,” she said on Monday night.

  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/world/africa/clinton-takes-responsibility-for-libya-security-failure.html?_r=0 

I don't understand the thinking between this kind of statement. With three weeks to go until the election, how can this be read as anything other than Clinton clumsily trying to take the political bullet for Barack Obama?

 Forgetting for the moment who was actually at fault in this lethal fiasco (we must sadly set that aside and examine the problem wholly on the basis of image and not substance), doesn't this smack of evasion from Obama? I can't believe this kind of statement was made without prior consultation with the White House. 

 I can only speculate that perhaps Obama is jockeying to field this question tomorrow (for he surely will be asked) and answer that  the safety of all the country is his number one priority and that despite Clinton's mea culpa  he is ultimately responsible for failing to shield the ambassador from the deadly attack. Clinton's statement, they must feel, will help soften the president's admission by making it look like he is bravely taking responsibility for circumstances beyond his control. 

I must again underscore that the above paragraph is only speculation, but it is the only logical explanation I can offer for this shocking statement from Clinton. 

Politics is usually a lot more like a cage match than a chess match, but I think the Obama camp may be playing a subtle game here. 

Anyone else got any theories? 

 

Edited to remove annoying line breaks.