Hillary Clinton dodged taking sides in the Keystone XL oil pipeline debate for a second straight day Tuesday, saying as secretary of state she "set [the project] in motion," and won't "second guess" President Barack Obama.
Clinton has repeatedly
refused to take a stand on the controversial project that would move oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast, and as recently as Monday declared she'd refrain from commenting "because I had a leading role in getting that process started and we have to let it run its course."
In New Hampshire on Tuesday, Clinton told voter Bruce Blodgett, a software developer from Amherst, if the matter is still undecided by the time she becomes president, she'll take a public stand,
CNN reports.
"I am not going to second guess [the president] because I was in a position to set this in motion," Clinton said to Blodgett, who told CNN he's a Republican who supports the pipeline proposal.
"I want to wait and see what he and Secretary [John] Kerry decide," she said, adding: "If it is undecided when I become president, I will answer your question."
Blodgett said the non-answer was unacceptable.
"I thought she avoided the question completely," he told CNN. "Her excuse was she didn't want to step on President Obama while he was still in office. I just thought that was a very weak answer. I just wanted to know where she stands on it one way or another."
"She is not willing to answer the question," he added. "She is putting it off until after the election. Her hope is that it won't matter. But it does matter to a lot of people."
But the Democratic presidential candidate stuck to her guns after the town hall meeting in Nashua.
"I've been very clear: I will not express an opinion until they [President Barack Obama and John Kerry] have made a decision, and then I will do so," she said, CNN reports. "If this is the No. 1 issue on people's minds, then they're going to have to wait to see what Secretary Kerry and President Obama decide to do about it."
CNN notes that through most of 2013 and last year, Clinton was repeatedly asked about Keystone, and that she never took a position. Democratic presidential hopefuls, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, both oppose the project, CNN reports.
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