On September 11, 2003, Losing bin Laden author Richard Miniter told Kathryn J. Lopez on NRO that there were at least 16 occasions when the Clinton administration failed to capture or rein in Osama bin Laden. That didn’t stop Hillary Clinton from trying to one-up John McCain in the I’ll-take-out-Osama rhetoric on CNN on Wednesday’s American Morning. Anchor John Roberts spoke for “critics” (read: squishy liberals) who disliked Hillary’s new ad invoking historical tough times that required tough presidents, as if she would be one:

ROBERTS: Senator, critics have said in that advertisement you employed almost identical tactics to those that President George Bush used in 2004 and it’s not very Democratic of you to do it…. it wasn’t just Hurricane Katrina, it was Pearl Harbor and it was also the first time a Democratic candidate has used an image of Osama bin Laden in an advertisement in this primary season. CLINTON: Well, maybe it’s because I’m a senator from New York, but I consider him a person who we must take out. I’m the one who has been advocating that we end the war in Iraq and win the war in Afghanistan. He’s at large. He continues to taunt us through his audios and his videos. Is it in the opinion of those who raise questions off limits for a Democrat to take a strong stand against terrorism, to take a strong stand against the man who masterminded the attack against our country causing, you know, such death and destruction? Well, I think that’s not being very far-sighted because clearly we know what the campaign the Republicans will run. I’m ready to go toe to toe with John McCain on national security taking on terrorism and Osama Bin Laden, and I believe that I will be able to make a very convincing case.

Roberts did not reply with any of Miniter’s case, or suggest that if the voter could imagine a Hillaryland administration, it might in national-security terms be a lot like the last Clinton administration, avoiding any foreign crisis that might dent those all-important presidential approval ratings.

And how unintentionally revealing is it for Roberts to suggest it’s “not very Democratic” to cite the bin Laden threat in a campaign commercial, like he was a real problem or nagging issue?