Clinton Camp Does Damage Control Over Immigrant-License Confusion
WASHINGTON _ A besieged Hillary Rodham Clinton belatedly backed Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan to grant driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, a day after her waffle on the issue sparked a firestorm at a Democratic debate.
Clinton’s opponents Wednesday pounced on the incident to raise questions about her sincerity, integrity and electability _ as her staff sought to limit the damage from the worst misstep of the campaign.
“As someone who loves her . . . this was not her best performance,” said former Clinton adviser James Carville.
Clinton’s supporters are worried about the long-term impact of her statement and her rivals, particularly Rudy Giuliani and Barack Obama, were quick to suggest Tuesday night’s answer revived questions about her candor dating from Whitewater, the health care reform debacle and the White House pardon scandals.
“We need a president who is going to be open and forthright,” Obama said Wednesday, when asked about his party’s frontrunner.
In a vaguely worded statement released Wednesday afternoon, the campaign moved closer to an endorsement of Spitzer’s approach, saying Clinton supported immigration reforms by state officials “like Governor Spitzer.”
Later, Clinton’s campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson clarified that clarification _ telling Newsday his boss supported the basic concept of offering undocumented workers licenses, “absent comprehensive federal immigration reform.” Clinton won’t comment on details of the governor’s proposal, he added.
The trouble for Clinton began in the last few minutes of the debate when MSNBC moderator Tim Russert asked her to explain her recent statement to a New Hampshire newspaper that Spitzer’s plan “makes a lot of sense.”
When Russert asked if that constituted an endorsement, she replied, “I did not say that it should be done, but I certainly recognize what Governor Spitzer is trying to do.”
Clinton’s foes spent most of Wednesday trying to keep the issue alive. John Edwards, who also hammered Clinton on Tuesday, put out a post-debate memo reiterating his charge that Clinton had engaged in “double-talk.”
Wednesday, Obama said the exchange “really exposed fault line. Senator Clinton left us wondering where she stood on every single hard question from Iran to Social Security to drivers’ licenses for undocumented workers.”
Giuliani, a Republican who has made anti-Clinton attacks the centerpiece of his campaign, described her comments as “amazing” to conservative CNN host Glenn Beck.
“You know, she was being attacked all night for taking different positions in front of different audiences and then by the end of the night, she took different positions in front of the same audience,” the former mayor said.
Later, he told Fox News host Sean Hannity that the comments were part of the political “game” that Bill and Hillary Clinton play.
“This is the worst of the Clinton years coming back, I think, to kind of stare her in the face,” said Giuliani, who was friendly with President Clinton for much of the 1990s.
Spitzer, speaking to reporters in Schenectady on Wednesday, hailed Clinton for addressing the country’s “failed” immigration policy.
Clinton avoided reporters’ questions on the topic during a news conference in Washington announcing her endorsement by the 1.4 million member American Federation of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees.
But her campaign launched a counterattack using their Web site, posting a video and news release that chided her opponents for the “Politics of Pile-On.”
“Sadly, Senator Obama caved to the pressure of the pundits and fundraisers who demanded that he go negative,” the release read, adding that Edwards “doubled down in his effort to become the guy best known for attacking other Democrats.”
___
(Newsday correspondents Craig Gordon and Melissa Mansfield contributed to this report.)
___
(c) 2007, Newsday.
Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.