Clotheslining Hillary
Salena Zito, writing in the Pittsburgh Review-Tribune, points out a rather obvious point. Ted Kennedy's preemptive introduction of a bill to deny funding for additional troops in Iraq has put Hillary Clinton into a box. Zito doesn't believe the clotheslining was intentional, I'm not so sure.
She can vote in favor of Kennedy's bill, then try to put some distance between herself and her 2003 vote for the war. That would make her look much better to many Democrats.
Yet it also gives fellow Sen. (and likely Republican presidential candidate) John McCain the ability to say at a critical campaign moment, "You did not give the president the authority he needed to be successful in Iraq. Shame on you — you don't get it, and you shouldn't be president."
Or she can vote against Kennedy's bill, which creates a much worse situation for her with the Democrat primary electorate. Those who oppose the war now number 85 percent to 90 percent of the Democrats' likely primary voters.
If Hillary wants to look tough and strong in a general election against McCain, who supports the troop surge, she faces a tough choice……
….By boxing in Clinton, is Kennedy trying to make a statement about who he wants to be the Democrats' choice for president? Not really, although he has publicly come out in support of Kerry, if his Massachusetts colleague once again seeks the Democrat nomination. Kennedy simply has always been against the war.
Zito points out that this box only applies to Hillary, none of the other potential candidates are in it because the rest are all of the cut and run stripe. I really am not at all sure this wasn't at least in the back of Kennedy's mind.
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The Coffeespy » A Problem of Leadership — Monday, 15 January , 2007 @ 10:19 am
By Coffeespy, Monday, 15 January , 2007 @ 10:52 am
Gaius,
You were, indeed, right. Grossly misinterpreted would have been a better description. Apologies, I was rushing at the end. The line is edited to something more appropriate, I think.