Opinion: Hillary Clinton made mistakes as secretary of State. That’s news?
To the editor: The front-page article on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s record as secretary of State does not contain a shred of anything like news. The article seems to be aimed at people who have been unaware that Clinton was running for office up until this moment. (“Hillary Clinton won praise as America’s top diplomat, but time has tarnished her record,” Aug. 18)
This painfully trite rehash on Clinton’s emails and your quoting of Trump’s perspective on Benghazi (because he’s so well known for his use of facts?) are so weak. Clinton isn’t even quoted until the final paragraph.
What The Times deems front-page news reads like something an eighth-grader could have cobbled off Wikipedia, particularly if the assignment was to make Clinton sound bad to readers who are unaware of who she is.
The Venn diagram of Times readers and people unaware of Clinton is empty — so is this bland, stale, slanted piece of “journalism.”
Judith Martin-Straw, Culver City
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To the editor: The secretary of State implements policy, advises on international affairs and manages U.S. relations around the world. In that, Clinton’s performance was stellar. Not only did she restore morale in the state Department but she also restored and smoothed relations around the world.
Libya was coming apart at the seams. Had we not intervened when we did, the civil war in Syria would have ultimately spread to Libya, thus drawing us into a situation where we’d be fighting Islamic State while trying to dethrone Moammar Kadafi. The situation in Libya today is hardly ideal, but it can certainly be argued that it is better than in Syria.
The Middle East exploded perhaps because of the fuse lighted by the George W. Bush administration, but it’s simplistic to say the vacuum left behind was the only reason and by extension the fault of Clinton or the Obama administration.
Michael Solomon, Canoga Park
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