Questions about why Hillary Clinton took the blame for Libya

(FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - Just days after accepting responsibility for the political firestorm that erupted after the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Hillary Clinton is again saying she won't run for president.

But there are questions about why Clinton took the blame, namely about whether or not she's trying to help take the heat off of President Barack Obama in the middle of a tight election.

Earlier in the week Clinton tried to put out the political firestorm over the Benghazi attack by saying she's in charge of the State Department. She said she takes responsibility and the president and vice president would not have known about specific decisions made by security professionals.

"It comes with the territory of being secretary of state," said Clinton.

Boston College political scientist David Hopkins said both Obama and Clinton have assumed responsibility.

"There's obviously a tendency for her to want, to some extent, take a little political heat off the president and the White House," said Hopkins. "To say that she's the secretary of state, she bears the responsibility for the safety of the U.S. Ambassadors."

In the meantime, Republicans are seizing on the idea that Secretary Clinton, who is not serving another term, was placed in a difficult position on purpose.

In an opinion piece, the conservative Web site "The Daily Caller" said that according to sources, Clinton believes she will be exonerated once State Department cables are made public.

"They need to establish the Benghazi situation clearly. Mitt Romney needs to widen that perspective which he tried to do in the second debate in terms of making it a credibility issue," said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center."

Fox 25's Sharman Sacchetti asked Paleologos if taking the fall for Obama could hurt Clinton should she choose to run for president in 2016.

"I'm not sure that if she runs in 2016 this will be a big issue," said Paleologos. "That's four years from now and there will be lots of other things happening."

Recently Clinton told the magazine Marie Claire that she's done with politics for good and is looking forward to being her own person and having her own time back.

Cox Media Group