Hillary Clinton as the New Reagan

Will the real Hillary Clinton please stand up?

Is she a raving Leftist loon or a centrist?

Could it be that Hillary is even a bit conservative? Are her Young Republican roots still alive, albeit deeply buried?

I wonder.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Hillary declares that she's best qualified to unite America.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton pushed back against criticism from fellow Democrats that she is too polarizing to unite the country as president, arguing that the political battles she has been through make her uniquely equipped to bring the nation together and build a centrist governing coalition.

In an interview aboard her campaign bus, Clinton (N.Y.) acknowledged that she has contributed to the divisive politics of the past decade but said she has learned from those experiences. She said that if she becomes president, she will attempt to assemble a broad, centrist coalition on such key issues as health care, energy independence and national security.

The former first lady called President Bush's political and governing strategy of concentrating primarily on his party's base for support "a tragedy" for the country's politics.

"I actually think that in a way, the fact that I've been through so much incoming fire all these years is an advantage," she said, adding: "It's been my observation that when you're attacked continually in American politics, you either give up or get disoriented or you either lose or leave -- or you persevere and show your resilience."

...Clinton spoke at some length about her rivals' criticism that she carries too much political baggage from the conflicts of her husband's administration to be an effective and unifying president.

"I really think my experience uniquely equips me to be president at this time, both having gone through it, having been on the receiving end of it and -- in campaigns that were hard-fought -- maybe on the giving end of it . . .," she said.

"The overall assessment, given all of the mistakes that I made and all of the lessons that I've learned, is that we've got to put an end to it, but you can't just hope it goes away," she said. "You can't just wake up and say, 'Let's all just hold hands and be together.' You've got to demonstrate that you're not going to be cowed or intimidated or deterred by it, and then you can reach out and bring people who are of good faith together."

She said she has begun to attract support from contributors and voters who may have been skeptical of her in the past. Criticizing Bush, she said he has pursued a "50-plus-one" strategy "instead of saying, 'You know what -- there may be some people we will lose if we reach out' " to create a broader coalition.

"That's what I intend to do," she said. "I intend to win in November 2008, and then I intend to build a centrist coalition in this country that is like what I remember when I was growing up."

While acknowledging that she may have contributed to polarization, she did not specify how or when. Pressed to explain, she said: "I've talked about it a lot, and I think I will continue to talk about it in a lot of different ways."

..."Let me tell you where I stand on Social Security, and maybe that will explain where I stand on all the particulars," she said. "First of all, I reject the conventional wisdom and the Republican talking points that Social Security is in a crisis. I do not agree with that."

She said she would follow President Ronald Reagan's example by appointing a bipartisan commission to study the issue and avoid making her own recommendations until it reports back.

"I'm not advocating any of it as a presidential candidate or as a president," she said. "But I am strongly advocating a bipartisan process, similar to what we had in '83, and when that gets set up, as I hope it will be when I'm president, then I'm going to see what the bipartisan members are going to come up with."

So, Hillary wants to lead like Ronald Reagan.

This coming from the woman who would not condemn the smearing of General David Petraeus.

This coming from the woman who signed on to the Senate's witch hunt to burn Rush Limbaugh at the stake.

Yes, Hillary the uniter.

GIVE ME A BREAK!

Hillary is no Reagan.

Hillary the queen of all things UNIVERSAL -- socialized medicine, $5000 for every baby, $1000 for every person.

Do those ideas sound like things that Reagan would suggest?

What is moderate or centrist about those proposed policies?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Will the American people buy into Hillary's "centrist coalition" crap?

Will they be duped by this tripe?

Republicans need to hit Hillary hard on her charade.

The Republican nominee must be the candidate who can best communicate to the American people that Hillary's proposals would swing the country to the far Left.

She is nothing like Reagan.

Obviously, Hillary is feeling very confident. She wouldn't be claiming to be centrist or aligning herself with Reagan if she had any doubts whatsoever about having the nomination locked up.