( - promoted by Drew Miller)
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's biggest challenge in Iowa may be the Iraq War and her reputation as a hawk. She tries to dodge the single most important issue in the 2008 race; she knows it is her Achilles heel. When asked at the IDP Central Committee meeting this morning, she almost apologized for her 2002 vote authorizing Bush to use force against Iraq. Almost. She said she takes "responsibility" for the vote and said she would not have voted that way had she'd known what she does now. But she added that there are no "do-overs" in life, and we need to discuss what to do now.
It was just dumb luck that I got to have a personal, 5-minute conversation with Hillary. I just happened to be by the coffee machine as she was exiting the building, and I struck up a conversation over her hawkish reputation as she shook my hand. To tell you the truth, I was surprised at how personable she is in conversation, unhurried and very at ease (I think JoDee Winterhof is not yet confident enough with Hillary to pull her away from worthless conversations with party activists like me). |
| Hillary is smart and capable of winning people over at the retail level. She is pretty good looking, too, though Edwards is the clear winner in the 2008 Iowa beauty pageant. And though Clinton is more knowledgeable in foreign policy than Edwards, I think Edwards is ahead of her on the most important issue of the day.
Hillary knew exactly what I meant when I said that her hawkish reputation would be a limiting factor for her in the Iowa caucuses. She first gave me the excuse she used earlier in the morning, that her experience as a New Yorker on 9/11 is perhaps influencing her positions. That response is not too much different from what Bush gives when he needs to justify his failed war.
But then she gave the more reasonable and understandable explanation: she has to worry that she would be perceived as too weak in a general election. This is the sort of triangulation that helped Kerry lose in 2004. Still, if you look at the poor showing that our female congressional candidates had in 2006 compared to male candidates, you can sympathize with Hillary's predicament - she has to look tough in the 2008 general election, another war election.
The bottom line she gave me was that if she had been confronted as president with the situations Bush encountered, there is "no way" that she would make the same terrible mistakes, such as invading Iraq in a pre-emptive war. I believe her, and I am more comfortable with her foreign policy positions now. But she probably will have to do better than that to win the Iowa caucuses. |
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