Hillary's Real Threat Will Come From the Left, Not the Right

They'll write books about her that are full of falsehoods (among other things), they'll hold an endless assortment of hearings on Benghazi, make all kinds of wild accusations over deleted emails - emails mind you that other former secretaries of state have also deleted - and go on talk show after talk show ginning up a base that is already frothing at the mouth.

In the end, it won't matter. The simple fact is there isn't anything the Right can do that can mortally wound Hillary Clinton. Indeed, the argument can be made that the more they force this dog to hunt, the better she looks to the rest of the country. Witness how President Obama's approval numbers have risen in the months since the GOP took control of the Senate. They are now the highest they've been since early 2013. Republicans would do well to study the law of diminishing returns.

But if a piece by David Freedlander in the Daily Beast is to be believed, the storm clouds that are brewing on the horizon are coming from the Left. The simple truth is no matter how sincere Hillary appears to be, progressives just aren't buying it. It's not so much what she says, but how she says it.

In the week and a half since she launched her campaign, Clinton has done her damnedest to blast the skyrocketing rate of pay for CEOs, called for higher taxes on hedge fund managers, lamented wage stagnation, and has adopted the phrase "The deck is stacked in favor of those at the top" into her rhetorical arsenal.

She has called for a constitutional amendment to reform the campaign finance system, come out in favor of a constitutional right for same-sex marriage and drivers licenses for illegal immigrants, and pushed for free community college for all

But the more Hillary tries to woo the Left, the more the Left wants Elizabeth Warren. Of the two, Warren is seen as the real deal. Her recent battle with Obama over the free trade pact is a case in point. While Hillary vacillates over the pros and cons of the agreement, Warren has been relentless and fearless in going after her own president. That courage has earned her not only the respect of her party, but praise from her opponents.

Authenticity counts, even in politics. And while the Left may not be as unhinged as the Right when it comes to their core beliefs, they do demand that they be given more than just lip service. One of the main reasons Barack Obama beat her in '08 was he came across as genuine while Hillary was more calculated.

Take for example the issue of whether illegal immigrants should be allowed to get a driver's license. In a debate with Obama eight years ago she said the idea made "a lot of sense." Two weeks later she flip-flopped and said she would not support it if elected president. This tendency to vacillate on major issues leaves a bad taste in many people's mouth and makes even her stanchest defenders uneasy.

Look, I'm not saying Hillary won't win next year or that progressives will treat her the same way conservatives treat the RINOs in their party. But she has her work cut out for her. The best thing she can do is stop taking a poll on every damn issue under the sun. If she supports Obama's trade deal, she should come out and say so and then defend her position; if not, she should say so too. Either way she has to shit or get off the pot.

Few people have the debating skills of Hillary Rodham Clinton. She can go toe to toe with just about any opponent out there. What she can ill afford, however, is for one of those opponents to be her.