The Washington Post frames this as a contest between a wildly popular potential presidential candidate and a decidedly unpopular Congress, but that’s not the real showdown coming on Capitol Hill today.  It’s going to be the battle between the popular hazy image of Hillary Clinton as the leading American woman in politics, and the reality of her bungled tenure at State as she gets pressed on the details of Benghazi and the assumptions of the Arab Spring that play into it.

However, she does have a big head start on that collision:

As she heads to Capitol Hill this morning to testify regarding the death of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, Hillary Clinton has something her former legislative colleagues lack: the broad support of the American public.

Fully 67 percent of all Americans in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll now express favorable views of the outgoing secretary of state, a record high in the survey for Clinton, albeit by a single percentage point. By contrast, just 19 percent of people said they approved of the way Congress was doing its job in a Post-ABC poll released last week.

Clinton has nearly unanimous support from fellow Democrats — 91 percent — in the new poll, also a career best. She also scores a gaudy 65 percent approval score among independents and more than one in three (37 percent) of Republicans believe she is doing a good job. That’s more than double the number of Republicans who approve of the way President Obama is doing his job.

If I had to guess, that’s because Republicans want to hang all of the blame for Benghazi on Obama, and Democrats don’t want to hang it on anyone.  But there are significant questions about what Hillary Clinton knew, and what she should have known, well before the attack on the Benghazi consulate that killed four Americans and drove the US out of eastern Libya.  CNN reports on the tough questions Hillary will have to answer today in her last significant appearance as Secretary of State:

CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson took to Twitter last night to remind everyone that Hillary’s State Department has refused to cooperate with FOIA requests intended to get to the bottom of Benghazi and Foggy Bottom:

https://twitter.com/SharylAttkisson/status/293842423606562816

Additionally, CBS News has repeatedly requested the promised surveillance video from Benghazi but it has not been provided. We’ve also asked for any White House photos taken that night, as well as an accounting of Pres. Obama’s decisions and actions. None has been provided….At a press conference 11/14/12, President Obama stated that his Admin. has provided all info regarding ‘what happened in Benghazi.’

http://twitter.com/#!/SharylAttkisson/status/293836542282178561

http://twitter.com/#!/SharylAttkisson/status/293839112576856065

http://twitter.com/#!/SharylAttkisson/status/293839186694385664

http://twitter.com/#!/SharylAttkisson/status/293840284654120960

http://twitter.com/#!/SharylAttkisson/status/293841036214665216

http://twitter.com/#!/SharylAttkisson/status/293841146063507457

Maybe Congress can get Hillary Clinton to answer Attkisson’s questions, because State has refused:

http://twitter.com/#!/SharylAttkisson/status/293842054503616513

Don’t expect that high approval rating to last forever.