Sen. Clinton Clarifies.

After last night's climax of the Democratic debate, when Senator Clinton was caught in confusion by the Spitzer license policy question, her campaign flunkies issued a statement intended to clarify her position on the question. As reported by the New York Times, it clarifies things only insofar as she supports Gov. Spitzer doing what he has to do, but it still leaves vague whether she thinks the specific practice of granting licenses to the undocumented is a good thing in itself. Follow the links on the NYT page for more details, including Spitzer's "ironic" comments on the Senator's remarks.

To an extent, it's unfair for her Democratic rivals and Republican critics to accuse her of flip-flopping or of simulatenously supporting and opposing the Spitzer plan. She may have been caught flat-footed by the question, but her original answer was pretty carefully phrased. She "understood" why Spitzer was doing it, which isn't the same thing as affirming aliens' right to a driver's license. She backtracked after Senator Dodd condemned the plan to clarify that she had not explicitly endorsed the principle of the Spitzer plan. By comparison, Senator Obama was forthright in supporting the principle, while Edwards was merely opportunistic in crying flip-flop.

In any event, it wasn't a good night for Clinton, because the public wants a right-or-wrong answer on the license question. Excusing Spitzer on the ground of necessity while blaming the feds for the problem seems to put the Senator in line with the Governor's "illegal immigration is none of my business" position. His stance hardly seems justified, but hers is even less so, if I understand it correctly. Clinton is a United States Senator and a candidate for President of the United States. It is definitely her business to take a stand for or against states giving aid and comfort to those whom the American people, as polled repeatedly, for good or ill, want to keep out of the country. As a result, she should expect more questioning on the matter, especially if and after she's nominated.

For the record, this is what she said.