OPINION:
When the Washington Post says you’re liberal, you’re realllly liberal.
And that’s just what the lefty newspaper did on Monday, declaring that “Hillary Rodham Clinton is running as the most liberal Democratic presidential front-runner in decades, with positions on issues from gay marriage to immigration.”
While President Obama has faced some strife from the far-left wingers, as he winds down his presidency — and especially since he will not face voters again — President Obama has moved farther left with each passing day, embracing gay marriage, pushing transgender rights, calling for amnesty for illegal aliens.
Hillary, like all good Clintons a tireless poll-watcher — is paying attention to the numbers.
As the Post says, she is betting “that social and demographic shifts mean that no left-leaning position Clinton takes now would be likely to hurt her in making her case to moderate and independent voters in the general election next year.”
Not surprisingly, Hillary will make LGBT issues and immigration cornerstones of her campaign, and adopt the exact same policies pushed by Obama. Plus, she’ll go further, but pushing a rise in the minimum wage and paid family leave for all Americans. One source tells me she is even considering some sort of debt forgiveness to offer cash-strapped college students.
“Her approach to this really is not trying to take a ruler out and measure where she wants to be on some ideological scale,” Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta told the Post. “It’s to dive deeply into the problems facing the American people and American families. She’s a proud wonk, and she looks at policy from that perspective.”
During her 2008 run, a former Clinton aide told me that Hillary is not like Bill. “She’s far more liberal than he is,” the aide said. “He would traingulate, compromise — Hillary won’t. And not that many people know that.”
The Post notes the many issues on which Hillary has staked out the leftist stance — even left of Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, her only announced competition at this point. And while Republicans will likely be forced to the right during the primary battle, Hillary has already moved as left as she can, leaving her the ability to tack back to the middle should she face no serious challenge for the nomination.
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