The rise, fall and rise of Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton is a very smart, very hardworking public servant. Many believe she's more capable, focused and formidable than her husband. And she's on a mission to become the first female president. It's a quest she's been on since her election to the U.S. Senate from New York in 2000.

She won that election easily and was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2006. In the Senate, Clinton more than demonstrated that she knew the importance of being a workhorse and not a show pony. She understood that the smart move, given her ambition to return to the White House, was to put her mark on significant legislation and to be zealously attentive to serving her constituents.

But two months after her re-election to the Senate, Hillary Clinton announced the formation of an exploratory committee for her presidential bid. No one was surprised. She was the prohibitive favorite for the Democratic nomination. Her principal challengers were first-term Ill. Sen. Barack Obama and N.C. Sen. John Edwards. By October 2007, she was outpolling both of her rivals by wide margins. Her campaign took on an aura of invincibility, of inevitability.

But saddled with weakness at the top of her campaign staff and blinded by her hubris, Clinton succumbed to one of Satchel Paige's best lines — "Don't look back, something might be gaining on you." And that is just what Obama was doing — gaining on her. The centerpiece of his campaign, Hope And Change, was catching on.

He relentlessly pounded Clinton on her vote in favor of the Iraq War. And, unlike the Clinton campaign, he made a major effort in the caucus states where he built up about a 150-vote delegate cushion that Clinton never overcame. By June 2008, Clinton was forced to accept the fact that Obama was the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party. The Clintons had been crushed.

Many supposed that she was finished. But such an assumption about Clinton was then and is now foolhardy. On Dec. 1, 2008, President-elect Obama announced that he would nominate her to be secretary of state. A month later, she was confirmed by the Senate 94-2.

The book on Secretary Clinton's performance over the past four years is that she has been a superlatively successful secretary of state and one whose work ethic puts the Energizer Bunny to shame. That assessment is only half right. She has put the Energizer Bunny to shame. But on the matter that counts, America's foreign policy, it's a different story, a sorrier story.

Secretary Clinton cannot escape responsibility for the Obama administration's escalation of the war in Afghanistan. It is America's longest war and one of its most futile. But beyond the tragedy in Afghanistan, there is the question of the competence of American foreign policy throughout the Middle East.

Our relations with Israel have never been worse. Egypt is no longer a predictable partner, thanks to the ascendancy of the Muslim Brotherhood. Syria is being torn apart by civil war that threatens neighboring states. Iran's quest for nuclear weapons continues, as does its malevolent export of terrorism through client organizations such as Hezbollah.

Perhaps most worrisome of all is Pakistan with its weak and unstable government, its nuclear arsenal and its renegade intelligence service, the ISI. And then there's Libya and al-Qaida's assault on our consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11 of this year that resulted in the murder of our ambassador and three other Americans.

How one looks at this picture and concludes that Clinton will soon depart Foggy Bottom as one of the nation's greatest secretaries of state is mind-boggling.

But looking more closely at the Benghazi situation helps us understand Clinton's cleverness and luck. Appearing on "Meet The Press" and all the other Sunday talk shows on Sept. 16, Susan Rice, our United Nations ambassador, told the nation the Benghazi attack was in response to an anti-Muslim film. Her characterization of the attack was false, and we now know it was a terrorist attack.

But why was Rice the guest on "Meet The Press"? In fact, "Meet The Press" had invited Clinton, but she declined the invitation. The explanation we're left with comes from Rice, who has said Clinton had had a "brutal week." How convenient! The Energizer Bunny was plum tuckered out.

How about a different explanation? Hillary needed a patsy, and the patsy's name was Susan Rice. Rice, who knew she was likely to be named Clinton's successor, couldn't resist the opportunity to showcase herself on all five Sunday talk shows. In taking the bait, she destroyed herself.

And now we have the official report of the Accountability Review Board on Benghazi. The board, led by former U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering and Adm. Michael Mullen, places the blame for what went wrong squarely on the State Department. But then the report gives Clinton a pass. It states, "However, the board did not find reasonable cause to determine that any individual U.S. government employee breached his or her duty."

Once Clinton recovers from her current illness and concussion, she'll testify before Congress on Benghazi. She will express sorrow, accept the recommendations of the board, leave the mess to John Kerry and return to Chappaqua.

But by 2015, she'll be back to finish her mission, the journey from Goldwater Girl to president.

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