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Debate Reaction: Hillary Clinton's Me-Too Problem

clinton.jpg Hillary Clinton has a Me-Too problem, and it was illustrated perfectly at last night's Democratic presidential debate in Philadelphia.

Here's the problem. Clinton allows Barack Obama and John Edwards (and sometimes even Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd) to dictate the policy proposals of the Democratic field. By and large, she puts forward relatively moderate ideas that rely heavily on conventional thinking—until one or more of her competitors takes a more bold, populist stand. Then Clinton immediately embraces the new stand, and the competitor or competitors have nothing on which to run against her.

I wrote a comment on David's post on this yesterday, regarding opposition to Michael Mukasey's nomination to be attorney general. Clinton announced she opposed the nomination, though she was following Edwards, who was following Obama, who was following Dodd. "So is this how a candidate maintains frontrunner status?" I wrote. "Make sure there is not an inch of difference between her and any other candidate? In a word, mimicry?"

That doesn't strike me as true leadership. And yesterday's debate had a moment that illustrated this perfectly. Clinton was asked by Tim Russert if she supported New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's proposal to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. According to Russert, Clinton had told a group of newspaper editors that the idea made sense. Clinton responded approvingly, saying, "What Governor Spitzer is trying to do is fill the vacuum left by the failure of this administration to bring about comprehensive immigration reform." Illegal immigrants are on the roads and will get into accidents. It's a reality, she said, and we ought to have a system to handle it.

But then Chris Dodd criticized the idea, saying that a driver's license is a privilege and not a right. Clinton instantly said, "I just want to add, I did not say that it should be done." Dodd pounced: "Wait a minute. No, no, no. You said yes, you thought it made sense to do it." Clinton responded by trying to explain that Spitzer's plan included three different kind of licenses. She promptly got lost in the weeds and accused the assembled of playing "gotcha." With that, it was off to the races.

Edwards: "Unless I missed something, Senator Clinton said two different things in the course of about two minutes just a few minutes ago, and I think this is a real issue for the country. I mean, America is looking for a president who will say the same thing, who will be consistent, who will be straight with them. Because what we've had for seven years is double-talk from Bush and from Cheney, and I think America deserves us to be straight."

Obama: "I was confused on Senator Clinton's answer. I can't tell whether she was for it or against it, and I do think that is important. You know, one of the things that we have to do in this country is to be honest about the challenges that we face. Immigration is a difficult issue. But part of leadership is not just looking backwards and seeing what's popular, or trying to gauge popular sentiment. It's about setting a direction for the country, and that's what I intend to do as president."

And it wasn't an isolated case. On multiple occasions throughout the night, when Clinton was the third or fourth respondent to a question, she would begin her response by saying something to the effect of, "I agree with everything that my colleagues have just said." After she spent the night getting slammed on Iraq, Iran, and even on driver's licenses, the best she could do was tell everyone she had the same position as everybody on everything.

Update: Transcript of the debate here. Note that Chris Dodd supports the decriminalization of marijuana and Dennis Kucinich admits that he believes he has seen a UFO. Courage points for both, I suppose.

Update Update: A little on why the Spitzer proposal makes sense over at DMI Blog.

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Posted by Jonathan Stein on 10/31/07 at 5:42 AM | E-mail | Print | Digg | de.licio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Yahoo! MyWeb | StumbleUpon | Netscape | Google |

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Comments

Ms. Clinton wants to win, hence the human chameleon. This is nothing new in a politician. Ever notice that Bill Clinton and Bush Sr. are such good friends. That should tell you about the future.

Posted by: Bobbyjo on 10/31/07 at 7:28 AM  Respond

I think Chris Dodd is right on target with decriminalization. Personally I think it should be fully legalized and regulated, like alcohol, but removing penalties for possession is a very good first step. Once people stop going to jail for it, people will start to understand how the effects of prohibition - the black market, low quality, high prices, high crime and violence - is not worth keeping that policy.

Posted by: Derek on 10/31/07 at 8:46 AM  Respond

I, too, noticed Clinton's unsettling "me too" habit. The most disturbing moment was after she had given her own convoluted explanation and justification of her Kyk/Leiberman vote. Joe Biden followed with an excellent, educated and informative answer. Clinton immediately butted in with "I agree with Joe." What I found frightening was the look on her face. It appeared that Biden's far-reaching take on the Iranian situation had never occured to her.

I'm hoping both Clinton and Obama have peaked early.

Posted by: MichaelS on 10/31/07 at 10:36 AM  Respond

They are already driving, give them a license so they can get a car insurance. Before 9/11 it was common practice. And the terrorists from 9/11 had FL licenses not fake ones. They flew into this country, they had visas, TODAY A TERRORIST OR ANYONE WHO FLIES INTO THIS COUNTRY WITH A VISA LIKE THE TERRORISTS DID BEFORE 9/11 CAN STILL GET A LICENSE. Nothing changed for the terrorists.

THIS IS BS. Illegals are not terrorists. Give them licenses.

Posted by: Jack on 10/31/07 at 11:17 AM  Respond

I don't think Democrats will appreciate the campaign turning into a "trash-Hillary" party. There are ways to attack her on the issues, but most Dems will not cotton to personal attacks on Hillary: they know she has been fighting the Republicans for years, they know the GOP can't stand her because she is a strong survivor, and they appreciate her for that if nothing else. They may not agree with her on some issues, but Democrats do still admire her, as evidenced by her incredible leads in all polls despite all the naysaying. By bullying her, Obama and Edwards are not going to cause people who have supported Clinton all this time, through all the withering attacks over the years, to suddenly change their minds. They're just going to make Clinton Democrats rally around her, like they did for Bill during the impeachment witch-hunt. I admire Hillary more now than ever for her strength in weathering these attacks, because they make the attackers look like desperate losers to me. True or not, that's how I felt after last night. I have my reservations about Hillary, but I was not comfortable with last night's ambush at all. I suspect those who already support her feel the same way and will fight on her behalf even more strongly moving forward.

Posted by: David on 10/31/07 at 12:41 PM  Respond

I fully agree with your articlce and I don't know why (I mean I do know why the media is propping her up) they are propping her up but, after last night she should have lost any commanding lead she had. Anyone who actually watched the debate last night should not be comfortable with her leadership desicions for the same reasons you mentioned in your article and her terrible descisions that were in turn used against her last night.

Posted by: Mike on 10/31/07 at 1:32 PM  Respond

I've noticed this habit of hers for quite awhile.
that is why Obama waited so long to vote a while back. he knows clinton does the follow and me too with him like a little puppy. She does it to blur the lines between her and the others.
But, sometimes I think it's because she has no real idea where she really stands on issues and so, just follows whoever for direction.

Posted by: vwcat on 10/31/07 at 7:46 PM  Respond

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