New York Times
By Maggie Haberman
October 29, 2015
Eliot
Spitzer, the former governor of New York whose plan for driver’s
licenses for undocumented immigrants was the source of a stumble in a
debate for Hillary Rodham
Clinton in 2007, is aggressively criticizing her for that moment,
calling it a “metaphor” for her soft support on the issue of
immigration.
Mr.
Spitzer, who was the governor when Mrs. Clinton last ran for president
eight years ago, swung hard at Mrs. Clinton in an interview this week
with David Axelrod, the
Democratic strategist and former adviser to President Obama, who hosts a
podcast for the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics.
The
former governor, who resigned in 2009 after it was revealed he was a
client in a prostitution ring, recalled sitting in his living room
watching the Democratic debate
in October 2007, when Mrs. Clinton and Senator Barack Obama were asked
about Mr. Spitzer’s proposal to let undocumented immigrants get driver’s
licenses.
Mr.
Spitzer recalled that Mr. Obama, who was advised by Mr. Axelrod at the
time, was asked about it and “gave a one-word answer — yes. When it came
time for Senator Clinton’s
answer, she literally gave three different answers in 30 seconds. To
which Chris Dodd then responded, ‘Wait a minute, Senator Clinton, you
just said three different things, what do you think?’ And she waffled
and waffled and waffled.”
The
moment, from a debate in Philadelphia, was widely seen within Mrs.
Clinton’s campaign at the time as the beginning of the end for her, a
stumble for an otherwise agile
debater at a moment when voters were just starting to tune into the
race. Mrs. Clinton has, in her presidential bid for 2016, positioned
herself to the left of even Mr. Obama on using executive actions to halt
some deportations of illegal immigrants, as Hispanic
voters have become a major component of the Democratic coalition.
Mr.
Spitzer acknowledged that he is supporting one of Mrs. Clinton’s
opponents, Martin O’Malley, and dates the candidate’s deputy campaign
manager, Lis Smith. But he insisted
that the moment was revealing overall about Mrs. Clinton.
“It
was a politically tough issue,” Mr. Spitzer said. “It didn’t poll well,
but there was no ambiguity about what was right. And if you look at
where we are now as a nation
on this very issue It’s the law of the land, I think, in California, a
slew of states, and it’s not controversial because people know it’s
right and it works. But at the time it was controversial. And because it
was controversial she hemmed and she hawed.”
He
added: “This goes to the core of where are you on immigrants rights?
And the president – not then the president, Senator Obama, now the
president – gave an unambiguous
answer: yes. The Clinton folks, as no doubt you remember, thought the
issue was the problem. I thought the issue was a metaphor for her
vacillation.”
Christina
Reynolds, a spokeswoman for Mrs. Clinton, did not address Mr. Spitzer’s
criticisms about flip-flopping. But she said in an email on Thursday,
“The immigration
landscape of 2015 is far different from the immigration landscape of
2007, so of course the policy responses are different.”
In
a response focused entirely on immigration policy, Ms. Reynolds added:
“In 2007, we didn’t have an executive action that would focus our
resources on deporting felons,
not families, allowing millions of undocumented immigrants to remain in
the United States. In the last eight years, states have increasingly
been moving in this direction with positive results. Hillary supports
those state efforts. As she said in 2007, she
believes the long-term solution is comprehensive immigration reform,
but given Republican obstruction, we can no longer wait for that.”
When
Mr. Axelrod asked if the Clinton campaign had asked Mr. Spitzer to
scrap the plan, he replied, “Yeah, we heard from folks who said they
want this issue gone.”
Mrs.
Clinton has strengths, said Mr. Spitzer, who conceded that she is the
likely nominee. But Mr. Spitzer, who once held his own presidential
aspirations and who was
known to be furious with Mrs. Clinton at the time for the damage her
debate answer caused to his plan for driver’s licenses, suggested that
doesn’t mean she would be a good president.
She
is “intensely smart. Clever. Glib. A joy to be with,” Mr. Spitzer told
Mr. Axelrod. “None of that has to do with whether or not she’s the best
Democratic candidate
for president.”
He
suggested that Mr. O’Malley, the former Maryland governor, will have an
opportunity to make his case to voters. Mr. O’Malley has made criticism
of Mrs. Clinton over
hedging on driver’s licenses in the 2007-8 presidential campaign a key
part of his message.
“O’Malley has been there on the tough issues and gotten it done and I think he’ll make that case,” Mr. Spitzer said.
When
Mr. Axelrod raised the fact that Mr. Spitzer dates Ms. Smith, he
replied, “Yes, everybody knows that. Yes. Correct. I am biased and
overtly so. And proudly so. I
never thought that being biased was a negative thing as long as you had
a foundation for it, if it’s based on fact.”
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