It was just dumb luck that I got to have a personal, 5-minute conversation with
Hillary. I just happened to be by the coffee machine as she was exiting the
building, and I struck up a conversation over her hawkish reputation as she
shook my hand. ... Hillary knew exactly what I meant when I said that her hawkish
reputation would be a limiting factor for her in the Iowa caucuses. She first gave
me the excuse she used earlier in the morning, that her experience as a New Yorker
on 9/11 is perhaps influencing her positions. That response is not too much different
from what Bush gives when he needs to justify his failed war. But then she gave the
more reasonable and understandable explanation: she has to worry that she would
be perceived as too weak in a general election. ... The bottom line she gave me
was that if she had been confronted as president with the situations Bush encountered,
there is "no way" that she would make the same terrible mistakes, such as invading
Iraq in a pre-emptive war.