Francis Wilkinson, Columnist

Benghazi Will Be Hillary Clinton's 2016 Whitewater

Â If Hillary Clinton runs for president, Benghazi must be made a mystery.

May 10, 2013 at 7:15 PM UTC

Francis Wilkinson is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering US politics and policy. Previously, he was executive editor for the Week and a writer for Rolling Stone.

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

It is time to come clean on Benghazi. If Hillary Clinton runs for president, it will be time to come clean on Benghazi right through to 2016. If Clinton emerges triumphant, takes the oath of office and becomes the nation's first female president, the time to come clean on Benghazi will last another four years. (In case of re-election, better make that eight.)

This will require work. Unlike Whitewater, a convoluted, shady-sounding and quite possibly greasy real-estate investment deal, Benghazi consists of a discrete event, a brief aftermath and not much of a paper trail. After all, how much paper is produced in the course of a frantic night of violence in a faraway place?