Monday, January 7, 2008

Clinton and Obama are both flip floppers

In the New Hampshire Democratic debate Hillary Clinton attempted to paint Barack Obama as a flip-flopper. "He could have a pretty good debate with himself," Clinton said. She targeted inconsistencies in Obama's positions on issues like health care, national security and Iraq.
"You have changed positions within three years on a range of issues that you put forth when you ran for the Senate and have changed," she said. "You said that records matter." Of course she is correct in her assertions but the problem for Hillary is that she is also a master flip-flopper.



She complained in March 2006 that some Republicans wanted to impose a police state to deal with illegal immigration, arguing instead that illegals should be allowed to earn their U.S. citizenship. However in 2003 Mrs. Clinton argued differently. "I am, you know, adamantly against illegal immigrants," Clinton said in a Feb. 2003 radio interview. She said that the US should consider introducing a national ID card system.



Her flip flops on the Iraq war are well known:"A lead editorial in the Wall Street Journal chronicles Sen. Hillary Clinton’s move from a "solid, even eloquent hawk” on the Iraq war to a presidential candidate calling for a quick withdrawal of American forces." .........This is taken from NewsMax.com This is a brilliant article documenting Clinton's u-turns on Iraq. Well worth reading.



On the CNN / YouTube Debate in July, Senator Hillary Clinton stopped short of saying she would talk to Third World leaders like Hugo Chavez, explaining in a complex way that she would send diplomatic envoys to do this......... On April 22nd 2007 she said "I think it is a terrible mistake for our president to say he will not talk with bad people. You don't make peace with your friends -- you have to do the hard work of dealing with people you don't agree with," said Clinton. Read the full story here: SBS



Hillary Clinton has called herself an "agnostic" on nuclear power, neither a supporter or opponent.



In 1993, President Clinton appointed his wife to head and be the chairperson of the Task Force on National Health Care Reform. The task force formulated a plan known as the Clinton health care plan a proposal that would mandate employers to provide health coverage to their employees through individual health maintenance organizations. The plan was quickly derided as "Hillarycare" by its opponents, and did not receive enough support for a floor vote in either the House or the Senate, although both chambers were controlled by Democrats. The proposal was abandoned in September of 1994.



According to ..SamGail Before and during her early years in the White House, she supported Palestinian statehood, but she apparently forgot this after successfully running for senator from New York as a Democrat.The rest is history. She obviously had to cater to a new constituency, make the ritual trip to Israel and forget any sympathy she once had for the Palestinians. But is her 180-degree flip-flop on that festering issue a portent of her leadership if she attains the White House?

Clinton also made a major u-turn on the question of drivers licences for illegal immigrants. She originally supported New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's attempt to allow illegal immigrants in his state to receive driver's licenses.When Governor Spitzer decided to withdraw the plan Clinton stated "I support Governor Spitzer's decision today to withdraw his proposal." She also said "As president, I will not support driver's licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration including border security and fixing our broken system."

Essentially both Obama and Clinton have major credibility problems. Obama as an excellent communicator has managed to side step major u-turns. Clinton has bluffed and blustered to obfuscate inconsistencies. Change as advocated by Clinton and Obama is a chimera.

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