The Clinton Coronation Continues Hillary stumbles on Syria and ObamaCare, but her opponents are hopeless.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-clinton-coronation-continues-1450652385
Perhaps you haven’t heard that the Democratic presidential candidates held a debate Saturday night, which is how the party’s elites like it. This faux nomination fight is about coronating Hillary Clinton, and the last thing Democrats want is voters watching if the other candidates expose her weaknesses. Maybe they’ll schedule the next debate during the NFL playoffs.
Not that Democrats needed to worry. Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley, the two competitors on stage with the former first lady, couldn’t have been more solicitous if they were Ted Cruz praising Donald Trump.
The wonder is why Mr. O’Malley is still running. The former Maryland Governor is getting little support even in a three-person race and he has even less to say. He keeps looking for running room on the left on guns and taxes, but there isn’t any. He wants to make the case for change but oh-so-gently so he doesn’t have to criticize President Obama’s record. This leaves him saying things like “the President had us on the right course” in the war against Islamic State, but “we have to increase the battle tempo, we have to bring a modern way of getting things done.” General O’Malley reporting for duty.
Mr. Sanders started off by apologizing to Mrs. Clinton because some campaign aides had used a Democratic National Committee software snafu to grab some of her campaign voter information. He proceeded to compliment her so many times we wonder if he thinks he could be her running mate. Sorry, Bernie, she’s going younger.
Mr. Sanders’s main problem is that his hard-left policies make him unelectable in a general election, and Mrs. Clinton has moved far enough left that even many true-blue progressives can live with her. Unlike many Republicans this year, most Democrats are also focused enough on winning the White House again that they aren’t taking any political cliff dives.
Mrs. Clinton was typically methodical and uninspiring, sticking close to President Obama’s skirts while trying to create some space where his policies are unpopular. This can produce some delicate line-walking that creates openings for Republicans.
Asked about the soaring cost of premiums and deductibles under ObamaCare, she said, “Well, I would certainly build on the successes of the Affordable Care Act and work to fix some of the glitches that you just referenced.” Glitches? Her only solutions are to double down on government-mandated price controls and offer a new tax credit, but she’s admitting that the law will be changed in 2017 no matter who wins the election.
The former Secretary of State also left an opening when she said that regarding Syria and ISIS “we now finally are where we need to be,” and she embraced the new U.N. resolution (see above). She may regret those words if next autumn the war is still raging or there are more terror attacks in the U.S.
None of this means Mrs. Clinton will be easy to beat next November. Her lack of strong competition means she can focus on her general election strategy, and she’s clearly itching to run against Mr. Trump. Republican primary voters may want to judge accordingly.
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