I was going to begin my next Impromptus with an item about Hillary Clinton, and her view of human rights — which echoes an old, shudder-making view. But Elliott Abrams has saved me the trouble: writing an entire piece on the subject.

I was going to recall something I had in my “Carterpalooza” of 2002:

Remember when the Left used to say, “Okay, maybe the West has ‘political rights,’ but the East has ‘social rights’”? [Jimmy] Carter isn’t far off from that. A mission statement of his Center reads, “‘Human rights’ is a broad term, encompassing freedom from oppression and freedom of speech to the right to food and health.” This is on the way to Erich Honecker. And as Jeane Kirkpatrick — whom Carter also openly despises — points out, it’s amazing how those who lack the freedom of speech, the freedom of worship, the freedom of assembly, and so on, also tend to lack food, shelter, and health.

I also recall to you something Hillary Clinton said earlier this year. She was at a meeting of the Organization of American States, and she was asked about Cuban political prisoners. How could Cuba be readmitted to the OAS when Cuba was a police state? Essentially ignoring the question — but answering it in a most revealing way — she said, “The United States, under the Obama administration, is committed to reengaging in Latin America, to working with all countries, and we have begun doing that. We believe that lifting people out of poverty in our hemisphere, narrowing the intolerable income gap that exists between the rich and the poor in our hemisphere, working for greater social inclusion, improved education and health care — these are our goals.”

Then she added, “Some might say President Obama is left-of-center. And of course, that means that we are going to work well with countries that share our commitment to improving and enhancing the human potential.”

Elliott Abrams has put his finger on something very important: Our new secretary of state expresses a view of human rights that was exactly the view of Communists and their apologists in Cold War days. Is it McCarthyite to say so? In any event, it is true. And that is very hard to swallow. She’s the American secretary of state!