Hillary Clinton is “terrified of the left” and her fear may hurt her chances of being elected president, Bloomberg Politics editor Mark Halperin said on Thursday.
Halperin and his colleague, John Heilemann, discussed Clinton’s recent attempts, just days into her presidential campaign, to balance herself between progressive and moderate Democrats.
“I don’t think it’s going well,” Halperin said of Clinton’s attempted balancing act.
“She’s so terrified of losing Iowa, and she’s so terrified that even if she wins the Iowa caucuses but some liberal does well enough to wound her, that it will hurt her chances that she’s forgetting the fact that there’s a general election to come if she’s the nominee,” he continued.
Since announcing her candidacy on Sunday, the multimillionaire Clinton has attempted to recast herself as an average American. She and several aides embarked on a cross-country trip to Iowa in a Dodge conversion van. She also attempted to prove her liberal bona fides by reversing her position on two key issues.
In the past, Clinton has said that she believes gay marriage is an issue that states should sort out. But on Wednesday, the Clinton campaign issued a statement announcing that she now hopes the Supreme Court will rule in favor of the legalization of gay marriage at the federal level.
Clinton also changed her position on drivers licenses for illegal immigrants. As a presidential candidate in 2007, Clinton said that she did not support granting illegals that privilege. But in a statement released to Huffington Post on Thursday, Clinton said she now backs such a measure.
“She’s terrified of the left, and it’s showing on a range of issues,” Halperin said, adding that she is “creating a lot of trouble for herself, and it’s only just begun.”
“She seems to have moved a little bit to the left on same-sex marriage, but my sense is from the way she’s talking, from the way her campaign is responding to some things and not others, she’s terrified on the left.”
“Their demands will never end, and if she continues to cater to them — that’s where the energy is in the party. I understand the impulse — Republicans do it all the time — but it’s going to hurt her chances of winning the general.”
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