Senator Clinton’s Presidential campaign is distributing these fliers in New Hampshire, in advance of the Tuesday, January 8 Presidential Nominating Primary. The “A New Beginning” side features five agenda statements, numbered 1 - 5, then adds bulleted statements that vary in specificity regarding the Senator’s proposals.  The images are scanned copies of literature distributed by door-to-door canvassers for Senator Clinton in Manchester, New Hampshire on Monday, December 31, 2007.  It is a double-sided, four color 8.5×11 inch with a perforated tear-off postage prepaid reply card.  It bears a “Paid for by Hillary Clinton for President” attribution.  All quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the aforementioned literature.

Ranging from generic to comical pandering, Senator Clinton appeals to the liberal belief that America has peed in the international swimming pool and now must lead the sterilization effort.  The bullet point “Start bringing our troops home within 60 days of taking office” begs for votes of DailyKos-types, in a vain attempt to distance herself from her early support of the war in Iraq.  Remember this?: “This is a difficult vote. This is probably the hardest decision I have ever had to make. Any vote that may lead to war should be hard, but I cast it with conviction. … So it is with conviction that I support his resolution as being in the best interests of our nation.” (Sen. Hillary Clinton, Congressional Record, 10/10/02, pp. S10289-S10290)  That the proposal is completely bogus on numerous levels is parenthetical at best, given the late hour in the Iowa process.

Perhaps most interesting line in the “Restore America’s Leadership in the World” section, though, is this terrific little ditty: ”cut off funds to Iraqi government ministries that mishandle American money”.  With the realization setting in that we are all back to working for the government, one could only hope that Senator Clinton’s proposal would extend to include cutting off funds to American government ministries that mishandle American money.

The “Secure the Future for America’s Middle Class” section uses the chic language of “security” that Democrats have become so flummoxed over - and now even the ‘Future’ is in need of securing.  The bullets are the standard Democratic fare, “Create tax breaks for the middle class to pay for health care and college” and “End giveaways to corporations that ship our jobs overseas, and restore corporate accountability”.  No mention of Hillary’s numerous government spending proposals that would dramatically expand the size and scope of the federal government.

“Energy Independence Through American Innovation” combines a bunch of exciting buzzwords into one title, but the bullets don’t live up to the hype.  Four of the five bullets call for measures that would reduce American dependence on foreign oil and demand for energy by the years 2030, 2020, 2030, and 2025, respectively, meaning that Senator Clinton either intends to attempt the Hugo Chavez route of ‘President for Life’ or is planning to set energy and oil dependency goals that don’t need to be met until ten years following the end of her potential Presidency.  Talk about setting your goals so low you can’t help but reach them!

The “Ensure All Americans Have Quality, Affordable Health Care” paragraph was improperly labelled, one would think.  It should read, “Here is How We are Going to Sneak HillaryCare in the Back Door”.  There is a perfectly good case to be made for universal health care - indeed, even amongst Republicans I dare say that no one is advocating the restriction of access to high quality, affordable health care services.  The debate, however, is not in whom should be covered but rather how should they be covered.  Let’s figure out how we can extend coverage to everyone while maintaining the incentives for innovation that the current system provides (yes, profits), keeping - or I dare say - reducing the wait time for health care services, and not completely seperating people from the consequences of their behavior, as tobacco use and obesity are two significant -depending on the study one might even claim go so far as to describe them as the most significant - drivers of health care costs in the U.S.  In this case, Senator Clinton’s literature lays out a plan for government-run health care without calling it government-run health care.  That “New Beginning for America” is starting to sound very familiar.

The final section, “Give Every American Child a World-Class Education” is a heap of government spending proposals; the bullet point in an earlier section “restore fiscal responsibility and cut the budget deficit” seems silly now, doesn’t it?  The Senator wants the federal government to start raising American kids when they are three years old and continue “caring” for them until they get out of college - if not beyond.  Aren’t there suppose to be libertarians in New Hampshire somewhere?

Senator Clinton’s piece is, in sum, probably a fairly accurate depiction of the candidate.  She will say whatever it takes to get elected: “fiscal responsibility”, “universal pre-K”, “Protect Medicare”, “bringing our troops home”.  The Senator is tireless - and so vanilla.  At least Obama has some flair to him.  It is most interesting that, at least to this moment, she has abandoned the old Clinton ‘triangulation’.  In 1992, President Clinton ran on welfare reform, deficit reduction, and budget control.  No mas, as they say.  But she is well-organized and well-funded, and Republicans in Connecticut - and across America - need to be ready if Senator Clinton is the Democratic nominee.