Hillary: Trying to be the new Huckabee? April 13, 2008

Hillary, Hillary, Hillary.

First she got played out by Tim Russert on NBC’s Meet the Press, where she was shown, vis-a-vis her campaign platform, to have flipflopped on a number of issues, most notably the Iraq War where, despite her claims to the contrary, she voted to fund the war numerous times.

But now, in her desire to paint herself as different from Obama, after Obama’s remarks about “small-town voters” being “bitter”, she’s reinvented herself — and now she’s a gun-totin’ hunter. ABCNews reports:

Sen. Hillary Clinton continued her critique of Sen. Barack Obama’s comments about small town America today, and used it to connect herself with the voters her opponent may have alienated.

Speaking about how Americans value their Second Amendment rights and enjoy hunting prompted Clinton to tell a story about her own hunting experience.

“You know my dad took me out behind the cottage my grandfather built on a little lake called Lake Winola outside of Scranton and taught me how to shoot when I was a little girl,” she said. “You know some people have continued to teach their children and their grandchildren. It’s part of culture, it’s part of a way of life. People enjoy hunting and shooting because it’s part of who they are. not because they are bitter”

When did the R in Hillary R. Clinton begin to stand for “rifle”? From Bill Ruthhart at the Indianapolis Star:

“I grew up in a church-going family, a family that believed in the importance of living out and expressing our faith. The people of faith I know don’t ‘cling’ to religion because they are bitter. People embrace faith not because they are materially poor, but because they are spiritually rich.”

While her comments about Obama headlined her Indianapolis visit, Clinton also touted her plan to create a “new generation” of defense manufacturing jobs…

The New York Times’ Julie Bosman said Hillary described herself as a “pro-gun churchgoer”.

CBS News’ Fernando Suarez:

“I am the granddaughter of a factory worker,” Clinton said. “My grandfather went to work at the age of 11, before there were child labor laws, and worked in the lace mills in Scranton, Pennsylvania.”

She added, “I grew up in the Midwest, born in Chicago, raised outside of that great city, and I was raised with Midwestern values and an unshakable faith in America and its promise.”

So now she’s avidly pro-gun, church-going Hillary with “Midwestern values” and “lives out” the “faith of her…grandparents” and wants to create a “new generation” of “defense manufacturing jobs”?

Not sounding very much like a Democrat.

While Obama “could have spoken better” about small-town voters, Obama was not referring to the millions of hardworking Americans who form the backbone of the American working class, he was talking about those who deviate from our social norms and turn to hate. “Clinging to guns and…religion” or “antipathy” does not happen to the average American hopefully; this is the reaction of a certain portion of the population.

Clinton called his remarks demeaning and her supporters handed out stickers saying “I’m not bitter” while Obama apologized, saying, “If I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that.”

While Obama undoubtedly could have used a better choice of words — is Obama’s misspeaking a reason for Hillary to completely rebrand herself? Is she trying to out-rightwing the right wing? Is she trying to be the new Huckabee, positioning herself as the choice of churchgoing traditional voters? To do that, she will put herself at odds with most of the Democratic party — and even if Obama (G-d forbid) doesn’t get the nomination, she will have to somehow appeal to all of us who supported Obama because we do want change.

Or maybe she wants the election to go to the GOP?