Maureen Dowd, you would think, is a natural ally of Hillary Clinton\’s. They certainly share the same political direction on most issues.
But there are some things even Ms. Dowd cannot take. And Hillary Clinton\’s casual duplicity is one of them
Excerpted from her latest column:
Hillary Clinton had an awkward collision last week juggling her past role as President Obama\’s secretary of state, her current role as Democratic front-runner and her coveted future role as president.
As secretary of state, she helped Obama push the Trans-Pacific Partnership that is at the center of the current trade fight. In Australia in 2012, she was effusive, saying that the trade pact “sets the gold standard in trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade, the kind of environment that has the rule of law and a level playing field. And when negotiated, this agreement will cover 40 percent of the world\’s total trade and build in strong protections for workers and the environment.”
Now Hillary says she is unsure about the pact and would likely oppose giving President Obama the special authority to negotiate trade deals for an up-or-down vote in Congress. As a future president, of course, she would want the same authority to negotiate trade deals that Obama is seeking in the messy Capitol Hill donnybrook.
But as a candidate pressured by progressives like Warren and Bernie Sanders and by labor unions, she turned to Jell-O, shimmying around an issue she had once owned and offering an unpleasant reminder of why “Clintonian” became a synonym for skirting the truth.
What is Hillary Clinton?
As Maureen Dowd shows us here (and, I am certain, she knew all along, as I and – I hope – you do), Hillary Clinton is whatever the last political consultant who whispered in her ear tells her to be.
Bill Clinton would have been able to pull this off. He was, and remains, a spectacularly talented politician.
Hillary Clinton cannot. She was, and remains, a spectacularly untalented one.
So she just looks ridiculous and insincere. Again. While her major opponent so far (who, to my surprise, is Bernie Sanders rather than Martin O\’Malley) looks the exact opposite.
And this is before Joe Biden jumps in, which I am reasonably confident he will. What happens then?
Hillary Clinton inevitable? Believe me, she\’s evitable.
