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Yesterday, Sarah Palin criticized the Obama administration's handling of the crisis in Egypt by recalling the famous television ad Hillary Clinton ran during the 2008 primaries about the phone ringing at 3 a.m. in the White House. The point of the ad was that then-candidate Obama was untested, and might not be able to handle a foreign crisis. I never liked the ad. No matter who picks up that phone at 3 a.m., you know that the caller would be the National Security Advisor. The incumbent in that post, Tom Donilon, would be as likely to hold that job had Clinton won in 2008. And, no matter who picks up the phone, the first question they ask is the same: What do you recommend? And the first command they give would be the same: Assemble the team.
But, the ad was vivid enough that it is still being recalled three years later. But, WHY ON EARTH would Sarah Palin call attention to that 3 a.m. call? The picture of her picking up that phone fills many Americans with dread. She needs a strategist to help her write these speeches and go over her talking points. Right now, it is like looking at a bull waving a red cape at itself.
