Hillary's Finest Hour
August 13, 2007; Page A14
Hillary Clinton has been catching heat for refusing to swear off campaign cash from lobbyists, with critics accusing her of being a stooge of corporate and special interests. We'd say she deserves some credit.
online.wsj.com
At last week's YearlyKos event, former Senator John Edwards stooped for an easy applause line by challenging his fellow candidates to refuse donations from "Washington lobbyists." Mrs. Clinton refused to take the sound-bite bait. When asked if she'd continue taking such cash, she replied: "Yes I will because, you know, a lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans. They actually do. They represent nurses. They represent social workers. Yes, they represent corporations that employ a lot of people."
Her answer was met with jeers, but what Mrs. Clinton was daring to tell her left-wing audience is that lobbyists are an essential means by which average Americans transmit their political concerns to Washington, and in turn hold their elected Representatives accountable. Not everyone in America can afford to trek to D.C., or has the clout to demand an audience with a Senator. Lobbyists represent the collective voice of groups with shared ideals, whether they be gun owners, union workers, corporate employees or the pro-choice movement.
One reason Mr. Edwards and Illinois Senator Barack Obama have been so cavalier about shunning "lobbyist" donations is that they know it means nothing. While neither man may take money directly from federal lobbyists, both have raked in cash from other interest groups and from people who work for lobbyists. This is an old ploy, but precisely the kind of phony liberal symbolism that the Kos crowd would fall for.
Before Mrs. Clinton faints dead away at our editorial support, we should add that she also voted for the McCain-Feingold bill that has shown again how foolish it is to try to restrict money in politics. The underlying premise of all such reform is that money in politics corrupts absolutely, which may be why the New York Senator is now having to insist that she can accept lobbyist money and still be uncorrupted |
