Why did Obama get a free pass for the Benghazi cover-up?
He didn't. Well, not really. Remember that Hillary bore the brunt of this scandal. She gave a statement blaming the attack on an anti Muslim video, while privately informing leaders and her daughter that it was a premeditated attack. While Obama did give a speech backing her rhetoric, most of this situation went through Hillary and her her people. She was the one who had to testify, because as Sec of State, this was under her watch. Barry O didn't really do anything, but he and Hillary were defending their actions for basically 4 straight years, leading to serious repercussions when the elections rolled around.
Where was Obama during Benghazi?
He was in the Oval Office when the first attack happened. After that, well he was probably following his usual routine. By the time the CIA annex was attacked he was doubtless getting ready for bed.
Although Trey Gowdy's investigation into Benghazi showed coverup, will Hillary Clinton ever be held to task?
Prior to the last in what seemed like a never-ending series of congressional hearings on the Benghazi attack, fact checking showed no evidence of a coverup: Fact-checking Benghazi: The rhetoric hasn't matched up with reality I watched most of what Trey Gowdy said was a hearing and later saw video of most of the rest. Somehow I missed the parts where Gowdy showed that there was a coverup. What I did in fact see was a few Republicans say that the hearings weren't about attacking Hillary Clinton just before they asked attack questions that were personal and not of a fact-finding nature. Mrs. Clinton handled those inappropriate questions better than could have been expected. It seemed that the intent wasn't to get information but to get Clinton angry, and that didn't work.In fact Most Republicans doing questioning looked so bad in the process and Clinton looked so good that if anyone uses video from the hearings during the presidential campaign, it will more likely be Hillary Clinton, assuming she gets the nomination, than her opponent.The only attempt at a coverup shown by Trey Gowdy was in claiming that he wasn't out to get Hillary Clinton in a personal and inappropriate manner.
Did President Obama cover up the terrorist attack in Benghazi and, if so, why?
House panel: No administration wrongdoing in Benghazi attack Carolyn Lochhead Published 3:53 pm, Friday, August 1, 2014 (08-01) 11:42 PDT WASHINGTON -- The House Intelligence Committee, led by Republicans, has concluded that there was no deliberate wrongdoing by the Obama administration in the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, said Rep. Mike Thompson of St. Helena, the second-ranking Democrat on the committee. The panel voted Thursday to declassify the report, the result of two years of investigation by the committee. U.S. intelligence agencies will have to approve making the report public. Thompson said the report "confirms that no one was deliberately misled, no military assets were withheld and no stand-down order (to U.S. forces) was given." That conflicts with accusations of administration wrongdoing voiced by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista (San Diego County), whose House Government Oversight and Reform Committee has held hearings on the Benghazi attack.Stevens, who grew up in Piedmont, and the other Americans died when Libyans attacked the consulate on Sept. 11, 2012. Among the Intelligence Committee's findings, according to Thompson:-- Intelligence agencies were "warned about an increased threat environment, but did not have specific tactical warning of an attack before it happened."-- "A mixed group of individuals, including those associated with al Qaeda, (Moammar) Khadafy loyalists and other Libyan militias, participated in the attack."-- "There was no 'stand-down order' given to American personnel attempting to offer assistance that evening, no illegal activity or illegal arms transfers occurring by U.S. personnel in Benghazi, and no American was left behind."-- The administration's process for developing "talking points" was "flawed, but the talking points reflected the conflicting intelligence assessments in the days immediately following the crisis."Those talking points included assertions that those who attacked the compound were angered by an obscure anti-Muhammad video posted to YouTube in the U.S. There is disagreement to this day about whether that was the case.Carolyn Lochhead is the San Francisco Chronicle's Washington correspondent. E-mail: clochhead@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carolynlochhead
Ultimately, aren't Obama and Clinton to blame for the Benghazi scandal?
As the bottom line stated.... incompetency at best!