“A Day Later, Clinton Embraces Spitzer’s License Effort”
Political courage!
Mrs. Clinton’s statement affirming her support of Mr. Spitzer in his officecame less than a day after she offered a muddled and hesitant position on the bill, prompting a round of denunciations by her opponents. It signaled the extent to which her advisers viewed that moment as the biggest misstep she made in the debate, and one with long-term potential to undermine her candidacy.
“Senator Clinton supports governors like Governor Spitzer who believe they need such a measure to deal with the crisis caused by this administration’s failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform,’” her campaign said.
Mrs. Clinton’s advisers said that she had not studied either plan, and was not specifically endorsing either of them.
Still, the release of the statement suggested her advisers believed it was politically wiser to embrace a position that could clearly hurt her in a general election rather than risk providing more fuel to what has emerged as a damaging line of criticism: That she, taking advantage of her dominant position in some polls, is not being candid about her views and about would she would do as president.
“She is a habitual evader,” said Mr. Obama’s senior strategist, David Axelrod.
So Clintonesque, consult the advisors and look at the political fallout, not the issue itself. Coward.
— The Ace