Susannah Meadows, of Newsweek is sure trying to help bring Hillary into a new light with her article, Hillary's Military Offensive. Anyone with a higher I.Q. than a walnut can see this article is nothing more than a redefining of Hillary. Therefore, most liberals will not.

She may have entered the Senate in 2001 with three strikes against hershe was a woman, a Democrat and a Clinton. But Senator Clinton immediately began a methodical campaign to undo her image as a dovish liberal with no interest in military affairs. Post 9/11, she was quick to recognize that Democratsand especially one all but openly running for presidentwere vulnerable on defense issues.

According to Ms. Meadows, America still isn't ready to have a woman in power, so it is an automatic strike against Hillary for being a woman. If this were the case, Ms. Meadows, how did Hillary get elected in the first place? How are any elected officials women?

Her being a Democrat and a Clinton certainly takes away any credibility to her being a hawk.

Now, let's take a better look at the rest of that excerpt. I will provide it again:

But Senator Clinton immediately began a methodical campaign to undo her image as a dovish liberal with no interest in military affairs. Post 9/11, she was quick to recognize that Democratsand especially one all but openly running for presidentwere vulnerable on defense issues.

[emphasis added]

A "methodical campaign to undo her image as a dovish liberal..." Is that anything like trying to redefine yourself, or make people think you are something you really are not?

Does this seem strangely familiar to Hillary now trying to be tough on the border?

Peggy Noonan hits the nail right on the head in her December 9, 2004 article, Where Are They Now? Four years after leaving the White House, Hillary Clinton plots her return.

She is taking care of her liberal base while cherry-picking key issues on which she can get to the right of the Republican party. This is most astute and quite effective. For the liberals she produces a steady stream of base-friendly efforts (Special Committee on the Aging, education funding, help for the emotionally disturbed, extended unemployment insurance) and classic pork barrel. To get to the right of the president she talks homeland security and immigration. On homeland security she fights for increased funding, better controls at U.S. ports, tightened security for nuclear power plants and chemical plants. She issues warnings about the use of weapons of mass destruction on American soil. She is a member of the Armed Services Committee and likes to talk about military reform. On immigration she has begun talking tough on border security, accusing the administration of not spending enough, employing enough people, using the best technology. She recently called herself "adamantly against illegal immigrants," by which she no doubt meant illegal immigration, and has been inching toward support for a national ID card.

Hillary may be a lot of things. But, she is not an idiot! She knows that many in America will not remember her past, especially since her beloved media has no intention of reminding you. She also knows that many in America will actually believe what she says and think she is going to deliver.

The second part I emphasized in the second blockquote needs to be studied also. "[A]nd especially one all but openly running for president..." Is there any doubt about Hillary trying to be the president in '08? Granted, she already was president from 1992 to 2000 ('We are the president' anyone?).

Hillary is a great manipulator. She is quite aware that any blue state is going to vote for her because she is their beacon, their guiding light. Hillary also knows that in order to win the next election, she is going to have to try to manipulate those of us redneck red-staters. In order to do that, she has to work on her image. She has to make us believe she is something she is not.

Even Lawrecne Korb understands what Hillary is doing:

"In the wake of 9/11, America will not vote for anyone they do not trust to protect them," says national-security analyst Lawrence Korb. "She grasps that."

EXACTLY! Hillary grasps that she will not get votes from those of us who take our national security seriously. So, what does she do? She changes masks and acts like a hawk now. It is pathetic.

The crime isn't that Hillary is a smart politician, though. The crime is that there are plenty of Americans who are going to fall for her acting. As I stated before, Hillary is no idiot. She knows that many of us will not remember what kind of a person Hillary has been and what she has done in the past. Hillary just has to be the right thing to the right people. She'll convince many, she'll silence the rest.

Again, quoting the Newsweek article:

But impressing the brass and winning over the troops may turn out to be the easy part. If she runs in '08, she'll have to use her military education to stake out clear positions not only on Iraq, but Syria, Iran, North Korea and beyond. So far, she's not getting out ahead. When asked about a strategy for leaving Iraq, she waved off the question. "Nobody has all the answers," she told NEWSWEEK. For now, Clinton is content to let George W. Bush worry about disarming the enemy in Iraq. She's busy enough worrying about disarming her critics in Washington.

Well, Hillary, if you do become the president, you better have the answers! You are content letting President Bush worry about Iraq because you can then criticize him without any recourse. But in order to be a real hawk, you have to be able to do what President Bush has done.

Might I add, while you and your husband were playing president, you had plenty of time to prove yourself to be a hawk. In fact, you had the same enemies. How are we to believe you are going to do anything different now?

Copyright 2005 - John St. Michael