You liked her as NY Senator, you loved her as Secretary of State, you’ll go bonkers adoring her as the 45th president of these United States. And if, like yours truly, you answered no on all of the above, well, get ready for four more years of the same merciless pain…

In an item headlined The Eight-Minute Tribute Video That Convinced David Remnick Hillary Clinton Is Running For President, BuzzFeed’s Ruby Cramer introduces the eight-minute tribute video to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton which convinced the DC bleacher crowd she’s absolutely running for president come 2016.

The video is studded with international stars, including Boss Obama and the man who used to be Tony Blair, complete with a “soaring Bruno Mars soundtrack” and the uplifting slogan: “I just have an instinct that the best is yet to come.”

I just have the instinct to go under my bed and stay there until 2020.

Benjamin Netanyahu says on this video: “I’ve just had the opportunity to work with her to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Hillary Clinton is a strong and determined leader…She knows how to get the job done.”

Is this the new bonne tonne, to insert the word “just” in your sentence, just for the hell of it?

Salam Fayyad, Prime Minister of Palestinian National Authority says there: “You know when Hillary’s in the room. She is highly personable. She’s real.”

Sounds like something Bill Clinton never managed, that “you know when she’s in the room” thing. Could have proven useful.

Madeleine Albright says: “She has a laugh that is completely infectious.”

A must quality for a president, if you ask me.

– Ms. President, what started that whole murder thing in Benghazi?

– Ha ha ha ha…

Finally, this is what President Obama says on the vid: “Through it all, I’ve relied on the shining qualities that have defined your life. Your conviction, your optimism, your belief that America can and must be a force for good in the world… I’ll say it again — you’ve been one of the best secretaries of state in American history. And finally, Hillary, a lot’s been said about our relationship, and here’s what I know: you haven’t just been one of my closest partners — you’ve become a great friend. I’m so grateful for your grace, you humor, your friendship.”

It’s in the bag…

On Friday, Nov 30, the RCA and the OU issued the following statement, criticizing the statement made by Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas at the United Nations General Assembly yesterday, and expressing disappointment in the vote that raised the status of the Arab Palestinians to that of nonmember observer state.

The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) and the Orthodox Union voice their disappointment in passage of the resolution by the United Nations General Assembly upgrading the Palestinian Authority to a nonmember observer state.

The RCA and OU view this unilateral move by the Palestinian Authority as damaging to the peace process and a violation of the Oslo Accords. They believe that a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians can only come through direct negotiations.

Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, president of the RCA, and Dr. Simcha Katz, president of the Orthodox Union, stated:

“Today, at the United Nations, the global community placed peace in the Mideast further out of reach.  Today, the world saw the Palestinians’ president deliver a speech that was filled with hatred and venom against Israel; a man who truly wants peace does not speak this way.    Today, supporters of Israel are grateful to President Obama and his administration, as well as to the Congress of the United States, for their strong efforts to prevent the passage of this resolution, and we thank the other nations who stood with Israel today at the UN.”

 CORRECTION: THE HEADLINE OF THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CHANGED – THE RABBINICAL COUNCIL OF AMERICA EXPRESSED ITS DISAPPOINTMENT OVER THE UN VOTE TO UPGRADE THE STATUS OF THE PA, NOT THE RABBINICAL ASSEMBLY.

Avi Luzon, president of Israel’s football association, said Wednesday that Israel’s hosting of next year’s European under-21 football championship would not pose a security problem.

Israel was picked at random for the June tournament, and will play England, Norway,and Italy in its group.  The drawing was held by the UEFA in Tel Aviv less than two weeks after rockets lobbed by Hamas terrorists in Gaza caused residents of the city to keep close to bomb shelters.

Other league coaches also expressed their belief that Israel would be a good place for the tournament, expressing trust and confidence in Israel to keep players safe.

International media are touting the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement as a political boon for Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, saying the brokering of the deal has made the new president a “major regional player”.

In an article by the Associated Press, Morsi was described as someone who “won the trust of the United States and Israel”.   This despite Morsi’s open and continuous accusation that Israel was to blame for the fighting.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton thanked Morsi for “his personal leadership to de-escalate the situation in Gaza and end the violence”.

According to reports, Morsi made numerous meetings with international dignitaries from the US, Turkey, Qatar, Germany, and other Arab countries, but did not have any direct contact with Israeli representatives, getting and giving communications via a third party.

Did you know that you still have the right to vote, even if you live overseas? If you weren’t aware of this fact and you missed the recent presidential elections, don’t worry! Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, president and cofounder of the Overseas Vote Foundation, explains why voting is still important, even if you live abroad, and how you are able to do it. So get prepared for the next elections and listen to this great interview on the Goldstein on Gelt show!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

There are some fascinating questions that come to mind regarding the current controversy concerning Gen. David Petraeus, and in the coming weeks and months many of the blanks will doubtless be filled in. To be sure, the personal dimension to the story will continue to draw much attention – infidelity and personal failure in high places will always have a certain allure. But there are some serious public issues involved that we hope will be pursued.

It’s obvious that news of this sort would dominate the media once it surfaced. Surely it would have sucked much of the air out of the story of the president’s efforts to rally the nation in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. It would also have drawn attention away from the president’s newly charged economic appeal to the middle class that had given him some late momentum in his electoral battle with Gov. Romney.

Yet it appears that the news about Gen. Petraeus was circulating long before the resignation, which occurred after the election. Thus, the FBI investigation that led to Gen. Petraeus’s stepping down began in May and continued until late summer, at which point Attorney General Eric Holder supposedly was notified. Yet it is claimed that it was only on November 6– Election Day – that the Justice Department informed Director of National Intelligence James Clapper of the investigation; that on November 7the White House was notified; and that the president was first told on November 8.

Maybe. But it certainly seems inconceivable that an investigation of this sort involving the head of the Central Intelligence Agency – including possible criminal liability for compromising classified national security information – would not have been brought to the attention of the president or his senior staff early on. So the issue of whether there was an effort by public officials to suppress the Petraeus story in order to enhance the president’s reelection prospects is squarely before us.

Perhaps more important, Gen. Petraeus appears to be the intelligence source cited by the president and his senior staff as the basis for their refusal, for more than two weeks, to characterize the Benghazi attack as a terrorist act despite evidence that it was indeed a well-planned operation of an Al Qaeda affiliate. Not a few critics noted that to have acknowledged that fact would have been inconsistent with the administration’s position that Al Qaeda and similar outfits had been routed by U.S. military action.

In any event, soon after the Benghazi attack, Gen. Petraeus testified before a congressional committee that the attack was a spontaneous reaction on the part of Muslims angered by an anti-Muhamamad video. Further, Gen. Petraeus was scheduled to testify at two congressional hearings, beginning November 15,on both the failure to anticipate and properly respond to the attack as well as the decision to identify it as something other than a terrorist attack.

With the Petraeus resignation, acting CIA director Michael Morell is now scheduled to testify on behalf of the CIA. Gen. Petraeus has indicated that he will not testify, and as a civilian he will have an easier time avoiding that prospect despite the intentions of some in Congress to demand that he appear.

Was the general’s resignation part of an effort to keep him from having to testify? One need not subscribe to all the conspiracy theories now swirling around these developments. Generally, they are not helpful. But there certainly are questions that need to be looked into.