Double Teaming On Hillary

Illegal immigration is perhaps the most complex issue facing America. A hardcore right wing minority would like nothing more than to wave a magic wand and have the millions of illegals disappear from the U.S. Short of a Nazi style regime, that will not happen. Even President Bush to his credit realizes the complexities and has called for a workers' program and some form of legality and citizenship for the illegals.

So it was not surprising that tonight in the Philadelphia Democratic Party debate that this issue would become the focal point. Near the very end, Tim Russert brought up the complicated situation by pointing out the New York Governor Spitzer has just signed off on a program that will allow illegals a modified form of a drivers' license. The question was posed to Hillary Clinton who spoke intelligently on the necessity for each state's governor to deal with this issue in the face of the federal government not moving towards a comprehensive plan that would strengthen border security and find ways to bring the millions of illegals out of the shadows and into the mainstream of American life.

Hillary was forceful but balked at giving a 100% thumbs up to her own governor's plan. Rightly or wrongly she supported the concept but did not want to put herself in the position of the New York chief executive who had to finalize the program. And it was at that moment that first Senator John Edwards and then Senator Barack Obama pounced on Hillary for not giving her full blessing to Spitzer. They had tried all night to corner the frontrunner. In fact things became heated enought that Governor Richardson came to Hillary's defense by pointing out that her opponents were trying to make a character issue out of some of Hillary's nuanced positions.

Things have been going poorly for the second and third place candidates and they showed how desperate they were by looking for any opening to attack Clinton. Richardson's point was that it is okay to disagree with someone's positions but it was going too far to make personal attacks. Hillary is attempting to bypass the nomination process and run as a centrist in a general election. She is trying to be careful not to give the Republican enemy too much fodder. I would venture to guess that the vast majority of Democrats and left leaning Independents know that Mrs. Clinton is a left of center candidate. But they should know that to win a general election your words need to carry beyond Manhattan, Chicago, and Los Angeles and resonate in Little Rock, Peoria, and Bakersfield.

After making hay of Clinton, Russert should have point the onus on her two attackers and put them on the spot over this issue. Instead time ran out and we found out that Obama's daughter will dress up as witch and will be trick or treating with a dad wearing a two-faced Mitt Romney mask. For a candidate who said he would stress the issues, Obama has started down a slippery slope that might lead Romney to wear a two-faced Barrack mask.