Clinton's Search for Common Ground Gets Mixed Reviews in N.H.

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: Clinton's Search for Common Ground Gets Mixed Reviews in N.H.
Senator Says She Won't Support Defunding Troops
By Chris Cillizza
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Monday, February 12, 2007; Page A03


Sen. Hillary Clinton made her first trip as presidential candidate to New Hampshire, where she spoke of making compromises rather than promises. (By Jim Cole -- Associated Press)

KEENE, N.H., Feb. 11 -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) touted the politics of the possible Sunday during her inaugural visit to New Hampshire as a presidential candidate, a message that found an energetic but not ecstatic reception in town-hall meetings and house parties across the state.

Clinton veered away from drawing simple conclusions on issues such as the war in Iraq and health care, insisting that each is a complex problem that does not lend itself to a simple solution.

On Iraq, an area where Clinton has drawn considerable criticism for her unwillingness to apologize for her 2002 vote authorizing the war, she defended the Senate's effort to pass a nonbinding resolution condemning President Bush's plan to send 21,500 more combat troops to Iraq, calling it a first step in changing U.S. policy on the war. She also said she opposes any proposal to defund U.S. troops now or in the future....

***

Clinton is sending a message to primary voters as well as to her opponents that governing -- unlike campaigning -- is about finding common ground and forging compromise, not making difficult promises.

The response to Clinton's approach was mixed. A woman who attended a house party in Manchester on Sunday told the senator that the explanation that her 2002 vote was not an authorization for war "doesn't fly." But she seemed satisfied when Clinton said -- as she did multiple times during her two-day trip -- that if she knew then what she knows now, she never would have voted for the war.

Others were less easily pleased. One man hoisting a sign that read "No More Pro War Candidates" said that even if Clinton apologized for her vote, he could not support her. "We want people with better judgment than that," he said.

Through it all, Clinton stuck to the script, summing up her political philosophy in Nashua: "You have to find common ground, but you also have to stand your ground."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/11/AR2007021101397.html

[Eurobabe]

1. Dad saw her in Keene this weekend

He said she packed the local high school cafeteria, and seemed to get a good reception. Guess I'll have to schedule a trip north for next January when the primaries kick off, it's cool to have family there to see all the candidates.

[SaveElmer]

2. But, but....

I thought she was a panderer...just telling people what they wanted to hear!!!