“CNN Newsroom” anchor Carol Costello said that criticisms that Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton missed the rise of ISIS are “valid” during an interview with the pro-Clinton group Correct the Record’s Senior Adviser former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) on Wednesday.
Costello asked, “she took office as secretary of state in 2009, right? The next year, ISIS made al-Baghdadi its leader, so ISIS existed, but everybody was concentrating on al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, because he was killed in 2011. So, how can Hillary Clinton argue that she didn’t miss ISIS’ rise?”
Granholm responded, “well, obviously as secretary of state, she did not miss the rise. she knew what was going on, and she also knows the importance of having a comprehensive strategy. What was really frustrating about last night, Carol, is that they were all sort of blaming Barack Obama, but they were citing the strategies to attack ISIS using all of the stuff that Barack Obama is already doing. They want airstrikes. He’s doing airstrikes.”
Costello then cut in, “it’s a valid criticism. We never heard much about ISIS in 2009, in 2010. we heard a lot about Osama bin Laden being killed. We didn’t hear about ISIS, and you well remember that President Obama did call ISIS, you know, a member of the JV league. Those are valid criticisms.”
Granholm then answered, “Well, think about where this all began. I mean, ISIS is an offshoot of al Qaeda. There was a separation. This all began, all of this turmoil, when we went into Iraq in the first place. Obviously, it was George Bush’s policies that set the stage for this. But the question is really, Carol, what are we going to do going forward? Who is the adult in the room that is going to be able to address, and have a comprehensive and deep strategy to be able to defeat ISIS? I think the reason why the polls show that Americans trust Hillary Clinton more to defeat terrorism is because she is the adult in the room, and the polls — in fact, there was a Washington Post poll a couple of days ago that had her beat the Republicans by nine points in that question. They trust that she knows what’s going on, that she has a comprehensive strategy, and that she will be the person to keep them safe.”
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