Clinton's Smart Move on Roberts Nomination
By TPPB Posted in User Blogs — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
You have to give Hillary Clinton credit, she knows how to play the game. In a sea of noncommittal Democratic voices, the Drudge Report is reporting that "a top Hillary source" claims that Clinton will vote for John Roberts "unless some unforeseen development occurs." In addition, that source also says, "Look, we're not thrilled President Bush is in office and gets to make these choices...but we have to make the best of the situation until the next election!" And, "She is simply doing what is right for the country, not MOVEON.ORG."
This is smart. Providing this information through Drudge sends the message to the right that she is unlike her colleagues. First, she is willing to extend the same courtesy given by Republicans to the Supreme Court nominations of her husband. And second, Clinton is unlike the rabid Democrats like Kennedy, Schumer, Boxer, Durbin, et al who are now making unprecedented demands for documents and obviously posturing for a judicial war if necessary. Also, Clinton is not a MOVEON Democrat. These are important messages to send to the potential voters Clinton needs to court to win in 2008.
Talking to the left, Clinton sends a moderate message to her base saying that she is willing to play fair and recognizes that it is the President's right to pick the nominee. But she also makes it clear that if she were in office, no one like John Roberts would be her pick for the Supreme Court.
The fact that she is the first major Democrat of the 2008 hopefuls to note that she would vote for Roberts provided there are no "unforeseen developments" is atypical of Clinton who is usually very patient or even M.I.A. on controversial issues (I don't think the words Terri Schiavo ever came out of her mouth). The masters of media manipulation employed by Clinton have scored a big victory in the effort to help erase her liberal image.
with most of your argument, however, I think that Bill is more of a "Snowe" liberal while Hillary is truly a liberal who has to make-up for her liberal credentials.
Don't be fooled. Everything Hillary does is political posturing. Not that other politicians don't do the same, but it's interesting to watch Hillary because it's obvious she is running for office.
I will be interested to see what the other 2008 hopefuls do. But I think this was a very shrewd move on Hillary's part.
Don't ignore this factor, which has cropped up as Hillary has frequently sided with the Bush White House on institutional disputes over executive power and foreign policy. Time and again, Hillary has acted to preserve the power of the White House as against Congress. Partly this can be explained by her having spent 8 years there (Dick Cheney was the same way in Congress). But a larger factor is simply that, unlike even other Democratic presidential hopefuls, Hillary plans to make her own Supreme Court nominations some day. So she's thinking a few extra steps down the road, with that in mind.
that Hillary Clinton is one of those liberal elites so any move she makes toward the center is triangulation or attempting to "erase her liberal image."
On the other hand, it's simply quite possible that she is more like her husband in terms of ideology. While he can be heavily criticized for personal behavior, it's disingenous to label him, or Hillary, a liberal in the vein of Schumer, Durbin, Kennedy, et al.
She's a liberal is the same fashion that Snowe is a conservative.