Today at the three-day Take Back America Conference in Washington DC, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was booed by much of the crowd when she stuck to her no-discernible-stance waffle on the Iraq War.

AP reports that Senator Clinton orated, "I do not think it is a smart strategy...for the president to continue with his open-ended commitment, which I think does not put enough pressure on the new Iraqi government. Nor do I think it is smart strategy to set a date certain. I do not agree that that is in the best interests." In response, AP reports that Clinton's comments prompted " loud booing" by a large portion of the several thousand attendees.

The Take Back America Conference is sponsored mainly by TomPaine.com, a leading progressive think-tank. Other prominent speakers included Senator John Kerry, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, actor/activist Robert Redford and progressive journalist Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor & publisher of The Nation.

At the same conference, Senator Kerry said to loud applause, "(It is time to) end a war in Iraq that weakens the nation each and every day it goes on."

And the crowd went wild when Senator Harry Reid walked up on to the stage and and he got a lengthy standing ovation after finishing his 15-minute speech, in which he proclaimed that "We have to start to bring our troops home. This is the fourth year of this war....We cannot continue to be bogged down in Iraq...."

By continuing to not call for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Senator Clinton ignores the will of most Democrats, as well as 59% of the American public, who believe that the Iraq War is a mistake.

Seems like an oddly unsuccessful way to position ones' self as a presidential candidate for 2008.

Had I been at the conference today at the DC Hilton, I, too, would have booed Senator Clinton. She's wrong, offbase and out-of-touch. We need bold leaders, not wafflers.
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See Hillary Rodham Clinton Unleashed & Unplugged, which is the US Liberals archives of articles, post and a profile of Senator Clinton.