Today's Article
With her shifting
stance on Iraq, it's
hard to tell who
Senator Clinton is
these days.
stance on Iraq, it's
hard to tell who
Senator Clinton is
these days.
The American Spark
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Will The Real Hillary Clinton Please Stand Up?
By Cliff Montgomery - May 21st, 2007
Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has been doing a lot of dancing lately.
On May 16th, the New York senator first voted to advance a bill stopping payments to continue the Iraq War,
then refused to pledge support for the measure if it came to a final vote, then told reporters she would.
By lunchtime, Sen. Clinton was repeatedly asked by reporters whether she did or did not favor the troop
withdrawal legislation which had just hit the Senate floor for a procedural vote.
"I'm not going to speculate on what I'm going to be voting on in the future. I voted in favor of cloture to have a
debate," she said. One would think that four years into the war, the senator would have a fairly fixed opinion on
the vote which she was to cast later that day to effectively end such an unpopular war.
By supper time, she had made up her mind. We think.
"I support the underlying bill," she said sternly. "That's what this vote on cloture was all about."
Sen. Clinton, who is also the current Democratic front-runner for the presidential nomination, was soon
attacked by a rival Democratic presidential candidate for exhibiting answers on Iraq which were so--well,
Clintonesque.
"We're as confused as anyone on Senator Clinton's position," said campaign spokeswoman for Sen.
Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Christy Setzer.
"Frankly, it's hard to know whether it's indecision, miscommunication or simple word games and political
gamesmanship we're dealing with. Our troops in Iraq don't have time for poll-tested word games," Setzer
added.
Clinton eventually sided with 28 other senators who lost a procedural vote on the bill amendment sponsored by
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI). The amendment would have ceased the money flow for combat operations after
March 2008, as a congressional means of forcing George W. Bush to cease his fruitless nation-building in
Iraq--which itself was based on open lies and deliberate deceit.
Clinton has long resisted demands from those within her own party to adhere to reason and insist on a specific
deadline for American troop withdrawal from Iraq's fruitless nation-building--a refusal that has occasionally
resulted in the senator being booed by anti-war activists.
At the lunchtime news conference, Clinton denied she had changed her position on fixing a certain withdrawal
date.
"This is consistent with what I've been saying for several years," she lied.
Even as she denied her mixed signals regarding her stance on Iraq, she criticized the growing lack of focus in
President Bush's Iraq policy, including the recent appointment of a "war czar".
Clinton told reporters she expects her vote to be a message to Iraqi leaders that they do not have a blank
check when it comes to the lives of American troops and military might.
Not that her denials or shifting beliefs have been hurting Sen. Clinton with Democrats, who are once again
embracing a presidential candidate who seems unable to maintain a clear, honest message on an important
issue for any great length of time.
In national surveys and in big electoral states such as California and Florida, Sen. Clinton is widening her lead
against current Democratic runner-up Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) whose numbers show no real movement
despite strong media buzz and large, loving crowds who flock to his campaign events.
And to state the obvious, the New York senator also has a definite trump card--a master political strategist and
campaigner for a husband.
Advisers and friends of the couple have told the New York Times that former president Bill Clinton is his wife's
master strategist behind the scenes. He is the apparent consigliere to the head of “the family,” as some
Clinton aides call the senator's campaign operation; and he runs a fund-raising machine which steadily rakes in
$100,000 or more at exclusive receptions.
He has so far maintained a private role in the campaign, providing ideas to his wife and ensuring she paces
herself. The former president also acts as something of a master strategist with donors, coaching them on how
to sell Sen. Clinton to an occasionally dubious public.
But Clinton advisers told the Times they figure that by 2008, former president Clinton will probably have his own
press corps, campaign plane and schedule of events in make-or-break states while Sen. Clinton visits others.
“He is the great security blanket for her campaign: Democrats listen to him with intensity, and he can assure
her and her staff that he can get her message out,” Jerry Lundergan, chairman of the Kentucky Democratic
Party, told the Times.
We at The American Spark believe President Clinton was certainly the right man for the job in 1992, and that
the Clintons came along just when their country needed them most. But it's not 1992 anymore. America needs
a vision for the modern world, not a worldview from the early 90s.
By Cliff Montgomery - May 21st, 2007
Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has been doing a lot of dancing lately.
On May 16th, the New York senator first voted to advance a bill stopping payments to continue the Iraq War,
then refused to pledge support for the measure if it came to a final vote, then told reporters she would.
By lunchtime, Sen. Clinton was repeatedly asked by reporters whether she did or did not favor the troop
withdrawal legislation which had just hit the Senate floor for a procedural vote.
"I'm not going to speculate on what I'm going to be voting on in the future. I voted in favor of cloture to have a
debate," she said. One would think that four years into the war, the senator would have a fairly fixed opinion on
the vote which she was to cast later that day to effectively end such an unpopular war.
By supper time, she had made up her mind. We think.
"I support the underlying bill," she said sternly. "That's what this vote on cloture was all about."
Sen. Clinton, who is also the current Democratic front-runner for the presidential nomination, was soon
attacked by a rival Democratic presidential candidate for exhibiting answers on Iraq which were so--well,
Clintonesque.
"We're as confused as anyone on Senator Clinton's position," said campaign spokeswoman for Sen.
Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Christy Setzer.
"Frankly, it's hard to know whether it's indecision, miscommunication or simple word games and political
gamesmanship we're dealing with. Our troops in Iraq don't have time for poll-tested word games," Setzer
added.
Clinton eventually sided with 28 other senators who lost a procedural vote on the bill amendment sponsored by
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI). The amendment would have ceased the money flow for combat operations after
March 2008, as a congressional means of forcing George W. Bush to cease his fruitless nation-building in
Iraq--which itself was based on open lies and deliberate deceit.
Clinton has long resisted demands from those within her own party to adhere to reason and insist on a specific
deadline for American troop withdrawal from Iraq's fruitless nation-building--a refusal that has occasionally
resulted in the senator being booed by anti-war activists.
At the lunchtime news conference, Clinton denied she had changed her position on fixing a certain withdrawal
date.
"This is consistent with what I've been saying for several years," she lied.
Even as she denied her mixed signals regarding her stance on Iraq, she criticized the growing lack of focus in
President Bush's Iraq policy, including the recent appointment of a "war czar".
Clinton told reporters she expects her vote to be a message to Iraqi leaders that they do not have a blank
check when it comes to the lives of American troops and military might.
Not that her denials or shifting beliefs have been hurting Sen. Clinton with Democrats, who are once again
embracing a presidential candidate who seems unable to maintain a clear, honest message on an important
issue for any great length of time.
In national surveys and in big electoral states such as California and Florida, Sen. Clinton is widening her lead
against current Democratic runner-up Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) whose numbers show no real movement
despite strong media buzz and large, loving crowds who flock to his campaign events.
And to state the obvious, the New York senator also has a definite trump card--a master political strategist and
campaigner for a husband.
Advisers and friends of the couple have told the New York Times that former president Bill Clinton is his wife's
master strategist behind the scenes. He is the apparent consigliere to the head of “the family,” as some
Clinton aides call the senator's campaign operation; and he runs a fund-raising machine which steadily rakes in
$100,000 or more at exclusive receptions.
He has so far maintained a private role in the campaign, providing ideas to his wife and ensuring she paces
herself. The former president also acts as something of a master strategist with donors, coaching them on how
to sell Sen. Clinton to an occasionally dubious public.
But Clinton advisers told the Times they figure that by 2008, former president Clinton will probably have his own
press corps, campaign plane and schedule of events in make-or-break states while Sen. Clinton visits others.
“He is the great security blanket for her campaign: Democrats listen to him with intensity, and he can assure
her and her staff that he can get her message out,” Jerry Lundergan, chairman of the Kentucky Democratic
Party, told the Times.
We at The American Spark believe President Clinton was certainly the right man for the job in 1992, and that
the Clintons came along just when their country needed them most. But it's not 1992 anymore. America needs
a vision for the modern world, not a worldview from the early 90s.