Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is walking a tightrope with wealthy Jewish donors when it comes to her stand on an Iranian nuclear deal as she positions herself as a better friend to Israel than President Barack Obama has been,
Politico reports.
Clinton’s political expertise has confounded liberal and conservative Jewish donors alike, who have met with the former secretary privately and walked away with "sometimes widely varying interpretations about whether she would support a prospective deal," more than 10 "influential donors and fundraising operatives" disclosed to the website.
"Clinton’s private responses in some ways resemble a foreign policy Rorschach test; donors who see a deal as important to world peace have come away thinking that Clinton shares their perspective, but so, too, do donors who oppose any prospective agreement as compromising Israeli security," according to Politico.
Following Clinton’s statement lauding the April 2 Iranian framework deal as an "important step," the
Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin penned a column headlined, "Questions for Hillary on Iran and Israel."
She noted that Clinton praised the framework deal "but was purposefully noncommittal on the details."
Among the litany of questions that Rubin says Americans should demand answers from Clinton on: whether she thinks the relationship between Israel and the United States is better or worse than it was when Obama entered office, and why; and how a President Clinton would be different than Obama with regard to U.S. policy toward Israel.
Clinton must delineate herself from Obama, while not spurning the man who brought her into the White House, a nuanced balancing act if she wants to keep from painting herself into a corner.
Clinton’s Republican presidential opponents are pushing the idea that electing Hillary Clinton would amount to a third term for Obama, while former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush characterized her positions as part of the "Obama-Clinton foreign policy."
When Clinton formally launched her presidential bid in April,
The Jerusalem Post published a story about the former secretary of state’s "delicate dance on Israel and Iran."
"Israel will be watching Clinton closely to see what the future might hold for the US-Israel relationship," the Post reported. "So, too, will the American Jewish establishment, a small but influential constituency in U.S. politics."
Despite her support for the negotiations, as well as asserting that no deal is better than a bad one, Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill told Politico that Clinton has never wavered on her support for the negotiations with Iran.
"Her support for the negotiating process and touting support for Israel are not contradictory," Merrill said. "A strong deal is good for Israel in her view."
If a final deal is reached, Clinton faces the ire of well-funded organizations that oppose it, according to Politico.
"If there’s a deal, and she comes out in favor of it, you can be sure there will be a great deal of fire trained on her," said Noah Pollak, executive director of the conservative Emergency Committee for Israel, which is running ads pressuring New York Sen. Chuck Schumer to oppose a deal.
The website reports that Clinton is privately indicating to deep-pocketed Jewish donors that whatever the outcome of the negotiations with Tehran, she will be a better friend to the Jewish state than Obama.
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