Is Hillary Clinton Leaning to the Right?

Hillary Clinton may be the Democratic Party's leading candidate for President, but is she leaning too far out towards the conservative right? She is, of course, a seasoned veteran in the political arena who plays her cards with deliberation and care. But for some time now, she has been increasingly courting the right agenda.

Take, for instance, the speech she gave in January 2005, where she spoke on the importance of sexual abstinence for teenagers. Soon after, she shared the stage with Republican leaders such as Rick Santorum and Sam Brownback, and conservative Democratic Joe Lieberman, at a Capitol Hill press conference. At the event the leaders called for federal funding for research on the effect of electronic media such as computers and i-pods on children's behavior development.







The conservative quarter also seems to have responded to Clinton. She has, for instance, drawn admiration from them for her stance on foreign policy. Her spar with fellow Democrat Barack Obama during a Democratic presidential debate—on whether a president should meet anti-American leaders without pre-conditions during his first year in office—has won her plaudits from established right-wingers such as the Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes, National Review's Rich Lory, and the New York Times columnist, David Brooks.

The question is whether Clinton's allegiance to the right will offend her Democratic voter base, with its significantly leftist bias. Her supporters do not seem too worried about it. However, Hillary Clinton needs to tread carefully to avoid tilting the balance too far on either side.