--- title: Hillary Clinton Says Obama's Syria Policy 'Hasn't Worked' description: Hillary Clinton conceded in an interview this weekend that Barack Obama's policy in Syria has been a failure canonical: https://time.com/4052992/clinton-obama-syria-policy/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-28T22:01:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:47:02.642Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton Says Obama's Syria Policy 'Hasn't Worked' og:description: She said the U.S. should have helped organize resistance early in the civil war og:url: https://time.com/4052992/clinton-obama-syria-policy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a5c967c7907736b/698865e38e0601436a462954/gettyimages-488773802.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4928 og:image:height: 2772 og:image:alt: Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton Campaigns In New Hampshire og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton Says Obama's Syria Policy 'Hasn't Worked' twitter:description: She said the U.S. should have helped organize resistance early in the civil war twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8a5c967c7907736b/698865e38e0601436a462954/gettyimages-488773802.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton Says President Obama's Syria Policy 'Hasn't Worked' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Sep 28, 2015 10:01 PM UTC  Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a community forum on substance abuse September 17, 2015 in Laconia, New Hampshire. Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a community forum on substance abuse September 17, 2015 in Laconia, New Hampshire.Darren McCollester—Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Sep 28, 2015 10:01 PM UTC Hillary Clinton conceded in an interview this weekend that Barack Obama’s policy in Syria has been a failure, criticizing the administration’s decision not to arm moderate rebels in the fight against Basher al-Assad’s regime. Speaking with Chuck Todd of NBC, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination said the United States should have helped organize resistance early in the civil war. “What the Pentagon has been doing hasn’t worked,” Clinton said in the interview, which aired Monday afternoon. “If we had been able to move in, to help organize and support those people on the ground, maybe we could’ve made a difference.” When Todd asked her if it was a “failure in policy,” Clinton agreed, saying “Well, it is.” Clinton has been openly critical of the Obama administration’s approach in Syria for some time, saying in an interview last summer that the United States missed a key window of opportunity to arm moderate rebels when the conflict began, and may have swayed the conflict and avoided much bloodshed. Clinton also said that she believes there should be some restrictions on abortions in the third trimester of pregnancy if a woman’s life is not in danger. “And so, you know, again, I am where I have been, which is that, you know, if there is a way to structure some kind of constitutional restrictions that take into account the life of the mother and her health, then I’m open to that,” Clinton said. She also said as president she would build on the legacy of the Obama administration, including Affordable Care Act and financial regulation reforms, and focus on raising middle class wages. “I want to build on what works from both my husband’s term and President Obama’s,” she said. “But I want to go further. 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