I’ll openly admit right at the start of this column that I am possibly the most anti-Hillary Clinton voter in the country. While, unlike some of her harshest critics, I do not base that attitude upon a subjective belief in her similarity to female dogs, readers should beware this bias of mine when I talk about her.
Specifically, what’s the deal with the Clinton campaign these days? It seems to be long on rhetoric about bringing sunshine to the president’s office, but all this talk has a dark and cloudy history behind it. Admittedly, Sen. Clinton’s background is in law, and as such, I rather expect her to lawyer every single answer she gives, but there’s a limit.
For such an outspoken critic of George W. Bush’s misspoken turns of phrase, half truths and downright falsehoods, Sen. Clinton seems to have a remarkably poor memory about whether or not snipers were shooting at her in Bosnia. For someone with her lengthy career, slipups like that are certainly expected. But in Sen. Clinton’s case, vague references to experiences she had “in the past,” seem to be the norm rather than the exception.
On Sunday, Clinton was commenting about Obama’s remarks that some Pennsylvanians are “bitter” people who “cling to guns and religion.” Proving the common democratic misconception that law-abiding gun owners only use them to hunt, Clinton immediately pounced on the opportunity to appeal to hunters—a sizable demographic in key primary state Pennsylvania. In reference to her comments on Obama’s poor choice of words, a reporter asked her when the last time she’d gone to church or fired a gun was.
Instead of providing a straightforward, 15-second answer, such as “I went to church for Easter and I haven’t fired a gun since my grandfather taught me as a little girl,” Clinton hemmed and hawed before first saying that she’d gone to church for Easter and then declaring that the question was not relevant.
Since the whole brouhaha was about Obama’s apparent condescension toward Pennsylvania religious persons and gun owners, Clinton’s own experiences with both seem pertinent background information to me. But Clinton wasn’t there to provide pertinent information; she was there to take sanctimonious potshots at Obama, who, despite the Clinton political machine, is still ahead of the New York senator.
It brings to mind the curt response from Chelsea Clinton when a Baylor University Clinton supporter asked how her mother dealt with the Lewinsky scandal—“I don’t think that’s any of your business.” Excuse me, but he was just trying to give you an opportunity to tell the audience about your mom’s strengths.
But secrecy seems to be as much a part of the Clinton family as the Bush family. Hillary Clinton bringing sunshine to the Washington political machine? She is the Washington political machine. Let’s not even get started on tax returns or Freedom of Information Act requests for records.
And God forbid someone ask what happened to the White House furniture from eight years ago.