The left’s problem with Hillary-as-frontrunner was/is, if anything, she is not willing enough to destroy her enemies; that she talks about accommodation too frequently; that she started playing to the center in the middle of a Democratic primary without regard for the liberal base.
I’d quibble with this only slightly, Shawn. The problem liberals have always had with the Clintons is that their politics has always been about advancing themselves personally and advancing liberalism only secondarily at best. The Clintons have been plenty willing to destroy their enemies but not necessarily the left’s enemies. And when accomodation and triangulation are the best strategies for Clintonian self-preservation, they are all too willing to sacrifice the left.
Most liberals were willing to go along with this in the 1990s when the Clintons’ enemies were the left’s enemies as well — Newt Gingrich, Ken Starr, Rush Limbaugh, The American Spectator, to name a few. But now that the Clintons’ enemies include a bunch of idealistic pro-Obama liberals and a promising if platitudinous Democratic rising star, the disconnect is obvious. Liberals are objecting to the Clintons’ tactics because they and not the vast right-wing conspiracy are the targets. It is very revealing about everyone involved.
