"Sepuku!"

Have any of you ever heard of the term “hari kari”? It is also called “sepuku”, an ancient ritual of suicide to relieve the victim of shame from a dishonorable act. It is usually called “falling on your sword” in today’s vernacular or “taking the hit” for someone else. In combat, there are many accounts of soldiers and marines sacrificing themselves to save their comrades.

Why does one person choose to give up their lives for someone else rather than save themselves? One explanation is they believe that the other person is more worthy or greater than they are, and ultimately will be a greater benefit to other people. One answer is they may be put in a position that they can’t avoid because of circumstance. Another answer is that they are doing this for a third party to help them achieve a goal for their idea of the “greater good”.

On September 11^th of this year, we had terrorist attacks in which four Americans were murdered by an organized group of radical Muslims. On the cusp of those attacks, our State Department came out with statements that these demonstrations which resulted in deaths were caused by a YOU-TUBE video that was critical of a Muslim prophet. This story was rampant from the White House and the State Department for several days, until facts were revealed showing this was planned in advance to coincide with the anniversary of America’s 9/11 attacks and had NOTHING TO DO WITH A VIDEO. It has also been revealed that there were requests from the embassies for additional security several weeks before these fatal events, and they were DENIED! The words “spontaneous” and “video” were thrown about like “popping lottery balls” from Obama’s Press Secretary and State Department officials ad nausem until it all broke loose at a Congressional Investigation showing just how early the State Department and the White House knew about the real story. Shock waves are now travelling across the White House lawn; you know: “What did the President know, and when did he know it?” Can you say “Watergate”?

Remember 2008 and all the friendly conversations between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during the chase for the Democratic nomination? I certainly didn’t see much love lost during those rough days of campaigning; even now, there seems to be a strained relationship when the two share a podium.

Hillary Clinton may be one of the toughest people in politics, gender aside. She can hold her own against most critics and political opponents. As I watch her these days, it seems that the rigors of being Secretary of State are taking a toll on her; she looks tired and worn out, almost beaten down from her high office.

On Monday evening, Secretary Clinton took full responsibility for the debacle in Benghazi saying “The buck stops with her” on this issue. I’ll admit I was stunned to hear these words from her; she’s just too smart to make this kind of an error. I had to question her motive for taking the blame for this string of lies and errors.

Hillary has been to the mountain top of politics, and has little left to achieve, could it be possible that she is trying to deflect blame from Barack Obama so he won’t be shown, once again, to be an inept leader who is more concerned with image than substance and avoids responsibility one more time? This became public at a most convenient time for Mr. Obama as he faces an opponent who seems to be on the rise and doesn’t need more ammunition to attack the faltering Obama. It certainly looks like Hillary Clinton is committing “hari kari” for her party to keep Obama from taking the fall.