This will be a problem as she seeks to move to the center.
Hillary Clinton has not changed at all over the course of her political career — in the sense that she’s always been a flip-flopper, willing to ride the winds wherever they may blow. On the issues, her opinions change as often as the color of her pantsuits.
But which sin is greater: Hillary’s tenuous relationship with consistency, or her apparent complete lack of self-awareness? Wednesday night, speaking in an interview about her inevitable winning of the Democratic nomination, she refused to acknowledge or identify any issues on which her opponent, Bernie Sanders, has influenced her position. Amid vows by Sanders to continue his all-but-futile campaign until the Democratic convention in July, Hillary instead emphasized the goals she and Sanders shared: “I really appreciate all that he’s contributed to the Democratic party and our country and the issues that we’re going to be focusing on in the general election. And I really look forward to working with him to unify our party.”
Unfortunately for Mrs. Clinton, Sanders does not appear to share this perspective. Throughout the campaign, Sanders has repeatedly questioned whether Clinton is a “real progressive.” Along with a litany of other charges, he has attacked her ties to Wall Street, her support for the Iraq War, and her inconsistency on gay rights.
This pressure from the left has been a problem for Hillary ever since she began contemplating a 2016 campaign. Unlike 2008, when her main challenge was to convince America she was prepared to be president, this time around one of her biggest stumbling blocks has been the question whether she is “progressive enough.” Beginning with initial calls for Elizabeth Warren — one of the patron saints of the far Left – to run for the presidency and continuing with the Sanders campaign, Hillary has been challenged time and time again to be more liberal.
Clinton has moved left as a result of pressure from Sanders. You name the issue, she’s flopped on it.
Which is what makes her comments last night so disingenuous: Clinton has moved left as a result of these pressures. You name the issue, she’s flopped on it. The oft-mentioned Trans-Pacific Partnership? She supported it on the record numerous times before deciding to oppose it after Bernie’s criticisms. Federal minimum wage? While Bernie called for $15, Hillary said $12, and then later claimed at a Democratic debate to have supported $15 all along. Arctic drilling? As secretary of state, Clinton issued permits for drilling, but as Bernie amped up criticisms of the program, she flopped again. The list goes on, but only confirms what we’ve known for a long time: Hillary Clinton’s compass points toward but one place – the Oval Office.
And she knows that if she wants to get there, she needs to bring more than a few Sanders supporters into the fold. Her eagerness to please has already been well satirized, but she may soon find herself in an even more frustrating predicament: courting two opposed camps at the same time.
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Traditionally, presidential candidates will go farther out toward their side’s edge of the ideological spectrum throughout the primaries before moderating themselves during the general election. Energize your base early on, the logic goes, and then move toward the middle to make a wider appeal. That move will be tough in this case: The fact that the alternative is Donald Trump will probably convince some Bernie purists, but a lot of them remain emotionally committed to opposition, even after Hillary’s thumping victory in California.
#related#Can Hillary appeal to this core Left that handed Bernie 23 state primaries, and at the same time convince moderate voters that she’s somebody they can trust? The linchpin will be Sanders himself. After meeting with President Obama today and amid pressure from the Democratic party to leave the race, the senator reiterated his commitment to continue on, but also expressed his intention to work with Hillary to defeat Trump. His seemingly contradictory remarks leave things uncertain; perhaps he will be pushed into a concession sooner rather than later. If he concedes, Hillary will be on firmer ground — but would still face the larger hurdle of convincing those now candidate-less supporters that they should back her rather than voting third party or staying home.
I think it likely that, in the end, the far Left will throw up its hands in disappointment, tweet about socialist moral imperatives, and then step right in line and rally for Hillary – the same way establishment Republicans have done for Trump. The task for Hillary now is to get to that point, and she’ll say whatever she needs to get it done. Which will make it even more difficult for her to deny the leftward effect that Sanders has had on her eternally shifting policy positions.