Hillary’s “the meaning of is” Moments At the Debates

Trying to pin down Mrs. Clinton is like trying to catch a cat and turn him over belly up. He wiggles and scratches and meows. Such was the performance of the Democratic candidate for the President of the United States.

The Wall Street Journal “Review and Outlook” section had a very good analysis of the debates last night, particularly Mrs. Clinton’s performance.

“The junior Senator from New York seems increasingly to have adopted her husband's political methods, minus the savoir-faire. The result is that it's impossible to know what she believes about anything.”

But the question is: DOES SHE HAVE A SET OF PRINCIPLES TO GUIDE HER? I doubt it. I think she’s a pragmatist and her modus operandi is to go by the whim of the moment, i.e. she licks her pointer finger and puts it up in the air to see which way the wind is blowing. Is that any way to run a country?

“On Iran's nuclear ambitions, moderator Brian Williams asked a number of the candidates what their "red line" was. As he put it to Barack Obama, "What would make it crystal clear in your mind that" the U.S. "should attack Iran?" When he repeated the question to Senator Clinton, her answer was, in sum, "I think that what we're trying to do here is put pressure on the Bush Administration." She added, "we've got to rein him in." And, no, she didn't mean Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. When pressed by Mr. Williams, she clarified, in a way. "We're not in my view, rushing to war. We should not be doing that. But we shouldn't be doing nothing."

Is this woman scary or what? She also was wishy washy on the question about taxes but did I expect anything else? It is most obvious that she will raise taxes if allowed to assume the presidency.

As the Wall Street Journal Review & Outlook writes: “The political strategy is clear enough. Mrs. Clinton wants to roll to her party's nomination on a tide of "inevitability" while disguising her real agenda as much as possible. But Democratic voters ought to consider whether they want to put all their hopes for retaking the White House on Mrs. Clinton's ability to obfuscate like her husband without his preternatural talent for it. Aside from lacking her husband's political gifts, Hillary's challenge is that we've all seen this movie before. And performances like Tuesday's might be enough to convince voters to opt for a candidate who is his own man.”