McChrystal and Hillary

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A striking footnote to the McChrystal-Rolling Stone fiasco is the fact that the one top Obama administration official for whom McChrystal’s team has praise is… Hillary Clinton. Not that this is so shocking; as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Clinton steeped herself in defense issues and rubbed elbows with the military brass, in part to build up her commander in chief bona fides as she prepared to run for president in 2008. Still, it remains remarkable to me that a woman who in the 1990s was routinely accused of being a radical leftist has emerged as a real national security wonk and shattered durable gender stereotypes along the way. I agree with Peter Beinart that conservative talk of Hillary challenging Obama in 2012 is simply nuts–almost too crazy to be worth knocking down at article length. But should Clinton try to run again in 2016 you can bet she’ll have an impressive lineup of generals supporting her.