Greg Sargent has pulled up Sen. Clinton’s floor speech on the Iraq War resolution from October 10, 2002. It’s worth a refresher as Clinton tries to finesse her vote now.
Which brings me to another point.
Why is she trying to finesse her vote?
Seriously.
On the substance of it, would she really cast the same vote today knowing what we know now? I can’t believe she would. Does she regret, therefore, casting that vote? She won’t say that exactly, which leads one to conclude that she has political reasons for not saying so.
But what political reasons?
Again, seriously.
Here Clinton finds herself where many if not most Americans do: supported the war initially and are now dubious. So what political backlash would she suffer for traveling the same arc as a significant percentage of voters? Arguably, very little.
The backlash she is getting is from the left, which remains angry about her vote. But does holding fast to that position now deflect criticism from the left? No, just the opposite. It invites more criticism.
Maybe I’m oversimplifying this, but since I can’t figure out why she would hew to this position for political reasons, I circle back to the substance of the issue. Would she cast that vote again knowing what she knows now? Maybe she would. But, again, I doubt it. She’s too smart for that.
I’m left with thoroughly unsatisfying explanations; such as, she’s too stubborn to admit a mistake. Thoughts?
