"That's what I intend to do," she said. "I intend to win in November 2008, and then I intend to build a centrist coalition in this country that is like what I remember when I was growing up."
The whole article of the Clinton interview is similarly depressing. She won't commit to protecting Social Security. She won't commit to withdrawal from Iraq. And then there's this.
Clinton was similarly vague about how she would handle special interrogation methods used by the CIA. She said that while she does not condone torture, so much has been kept secret that she would not know unless elected what other extreme measures interrogators are using, and therefore could not say whether she would change or continue existing policies.
To me, these two paragraphs get to the heart of the Clinton-era political model. Clinton believes that the top-down political model of her youth, of the early 1960s, can be resurrected. She cannot handle a political system where one party is acting in utter bad faith, and ultimately turns to bad faith herself. That's why she will not come out against torture by the CIA, since she cannot bring herself to believe that the government could do something so awful, that the Iraq invasion was done for no good reasons whatsoever. And so she ratifies the horrifying behavior, and will continue to do so as President.
I hope Obama can actually challenge her, but it's not clear to me that he's any different. There will be leverage under a Clinton Presidency, but 2008 has been so far a tragedy of boomer-dominated cynicism.
UPDATE: I'm with Mark Kleiman. Clinton doesn't get the benefit of the doubt on this.
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