Is Hillary Clinton a Real Populist? It Doesn't Matter

What'll the lib-labs do? Vote for JEB!?

(New Republic) - Progressive distrust of Hillary Clinton goes back a long way. Much of it stems from her husband’s centrist presidency, and still more of it from her own record as a senator, which included early and sustained support for President George W. Bush’s invasion and occupation of Iraq (she has since renounced that support). Some liberals fear that both Clintons lack deep ideological convictions, and thus can’t be depended upon to govern in liberal fashion.

Yet in the earliest days of her presidential campaign, Clinton has committed herself to several progressive positions. Even in absence of a committed primary challenger, Clinton is sawing off all the illiberal limbs that, to the dismay of committed liberals, she had climbed upon in the past.

In the past two weeks, Clinton has embraced a constitutional amendment to govern campaign finance, a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, and drivers’ licenses for unauthorized immigrants, neither of which she supported in 2008. If you’re a liberal Democrat with presidential ambitions, like former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, this seems all too convenient.

"I’m glad Secretary Clinton’s come around to the right positions on these issues," O’Malley told reporters. “I believe that we are best as a party when we lead with our principles and not according to the polls. And every election is about the future. And leadership is about making the right decision, and the best decision before sometimes it becomes entirely popular."

Fair enough. Clinton hasn’t exactly covered herself in glory by wading behind the tide of public opinion. But is she, to quote the headline of a recent piece by the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent, “a populist of convenience?”

The truth is it doesn’t matter—not in any meaningful, lasting way. Whatever heuristic you use to explain it—necessity, expediency, or conviction—Clinton's movement to the left is unalloyed good news for liberals. Because if she wins the presidency as a result, that would change American politics in perpetuity. 

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