Doing her best impression of a moderate, clear-headed patriot on CNN's "town hall" offered to her, Hillary Clinton opined about the thousands of illegal immigrant children flooding the U.S. border from Mexico: “They should be sent back as soon as can be determined who the responsible adults in their family are because there are concerns about whether all of them can be sent back, but I think all of them that can be should be reunited with their families...we have to send a clear message that ‘Just because your child gets across the border, that doesn’t mean your child gets to stay."
But if reporters were trying to pin down her consistency, it should be noted that while running against Barack Obama for president, Hillary was solidly and vocally pro-amnesty in a CNN debate on January 31, 2008:
CLINTON: If we take what we know to be the realities that we confront - 12 to 14 million people here - what will we do with them? I hear the voices from the other side of the aisle. I hear the voices on TV and radio. And they are living in some other universe, talking about deporting people, rounding them up.I don't agree with that, and I don't think it's practical. And therefore, what we've got to do is to say, come out of the shadows.
Which Hillary Clinton shows up for 2016 remains to be seen. However, the Wikipedia entry addressing Hillary Clinton on the issues summing up her past flip-flopping, straddling and fancy footwork may serve as a crystal ball:
At a debate at Drexel University in Philadelphia on October 30, 2007, Clinton committed to support of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's plan to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens. Two minutes later, she recanted the position and blamed the Bush administration for not passing immigration reform.[63] The following day, she clarified her position in a prepared statement by coming out in support of Spitzer's bill.[64]
Two weeks later, after Spitzer abandoned the plan due to widespread opposition, Clinton reversed her position on the issue once again, stating: "I support Governor Spitzer's decision today to withdraw his proposal. As president, I will not support driver's licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration including border security and fixing our broken system."[65]
At a University of Nevada, Las Vegas debate on November 16, when asked again if she supported granting driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, she gave a one-word answer: "No."[66]
Cheri Jacobus is president of Capitol Strategies PR. She worked on Capitol Hill, managed congressional campaigns, was an RNC spokesperson and was an adjunct professor at the GWU Graduate School of Political Management. She also has a BS in Journalism.