Fearing the new & improved Hillary Clinton

Hillary the facilitator

So, Clinton not only works with Republicans-she drinks with them. Surely, she must be a moderate--and, in the event there is a cynic amongst us, Clinton added a drop or two of substance to this argument by voting for war, cosponsoring a bill to ban flag burning, and proposing a crackdown on violent video games. Like magic, Clinton the Left-Wing Ideologue is gone. In her place is Clinton, the Common-Sense Moderate.

The questions are: Is there discernible movement in her political leanings? Is there justification for the press to toss aside the liberal label that accurately has defined her for the past 40 years and replace it with a more moderate one? Has this new phase of her life truly brought about a fresh outlook on life--and politics? If so, is it a conversion of the heart, or are we witnessing a carefully planned and professionally orchestrated transformation of an unprincipled left-wing politician who will let nothing, not even her deepest-held beliefs, stand in the way of becoming the first woman elected president of the U.S.? Consider the timing: Although her makeover began upon her Senate election in 2000, the Clinton camp went "public" in 2004. News stories about her newfound religion began appearing about the same time her Democratic colleague, John Kerry, the liberal senator from Massachusetts, lost the 2004 presidential election. Within days of his defeat, her staff was making the case to the media that the liberal in Hillary was history.

Taking into consideration the 2004 election results, New York Times political reporter Adam Nagourney wrote of Clinton's potential candidacy in 2008: "Democrats and some Republicans said Mrs. Clinton was open to caricature by Republicans as the type of candidate that this election suggested was so damaging to the Democratic Party: a Northeastern, secular liberal."

Kerry's defeat was being blamed on his Northeastern liberalism by Democrats and Republicans alike. The 2004 election must have sent a shock wave through the firm of Clinton & Clinton--and Kerry was a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War. How was Hillary to be a serious contender in 2008 if she had the same political profile, but without the medals? Bill Clinton, no slouch when it comes to reading the public, assessed the problem in a private conversation with friends, telling them that, while the U.S. indeed may be ready for a woman president, he believed that woman most likely would be a Republican in the mold of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. More precisely, the U.S. citizenry was not going to elect a left-wing, antiwar feminist president in a time of war, and so the makeover continued. The goal: to re-create Hillary Rodham Clinton into America's Margaret Thatcher by 2008.

The first thing that had to go were adjectives such as "secular," "left-wing," and "liberal." Hillaryland let it be known these words no longer applied to the senator from New York. That it would be far more accurate to use terms like "centrist," "moderate," or "right-leaning." As for philosophy--nothing too specific--"evolving" or "developing" would do just fine. No telling what the voters would be looking for come 2008, so Clinton needed to be politically nimble. There would be plenty of time to define her once the presidential campaign began. In the meantime, the Clinton camp needed to rid themselves of troublesome suggestions that their candidate was anything like Kerry. According to The Washington Post, a close advisor explained why "undefined" is right where Clinton needed to be. In 2008, "[Hillary] will define herself, and we will have the money to do it. People have to get to know her, know that she was once a Republican, that she is a big Methodist." (Not just any old churchgoing Methodist, but a "big" Methodist, whatever the blazes that is.)