I have to laugh at the suggestion that Sen. Hillary Clinton displayed "indecisiveness" in the recent Democratic presidential debate. Clinton is about as indecisive as a Calvinist on the doctrine of election.

She knows exactly what she thinks about -- as opposed to where she should stand for maximum political effect on -- the issues. So when she vacillates on driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, don't hand her the excuse that she is torn on a tough issue.

There's nothing difficult about this decision at all. It's a slam-dunk for anyone professing the slightest allegiance to the rule of law. Illegal immigrants should not be permitted to drive in New York or any other state.

But for Clinton, it's not that simple. While not torn on the issue, she's torn between two constituencies: ethnic pressure groups and the vast majority who oppose New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's irresponsible policy. The allure of this new ready-made constituency is too tantalizing to resist. Driver's licenses are but a baby step away from voting -- and voting, she presumes, Democratic.

That's why Clinton and fellow liberals insist on violating our language in referring to illegals as "undocumented workers." "Undocumented" is not merely a euphemism; it is a wholesale distortion because it deliberately implies illegals aren't illegal at all but just a trifle behind in completing that annoying paperwork that will validate their legitimacy. It's as if the process of acquiring citizenship is nothing more than a bureaucratic formality, as if becoming an American citizen is no more sacred than filling out an administrative form.

Since Clinton had to be careful not to alienate this powerful new constituency, she was compelled, when pressed, to ask the enormously foolish rhetorical question: "What else is Governor Spitzer supposed to do?" -- which reasonable people would take as an endorsement of his dastardly policy. Pressed again, she flat out denied endorsing it.

But boy did she resent being pressed on the matter by her rival candidates and by Tim Russert, icon of a mainstream media, which so far has been shielding her from such scrutiny. For the media to challenge her inconsistency, she claims, was to play "gotcha" politics.

And for her rivals to hold her feet to the fire on it was -- according to her campaign website -- piling on, negative campaigning and abandoning the politics of hope. One can only imagine the low opinion she must have of her supporters when she expects them to believe this tripe.

Meanwhile, one must scratch one's head at the staggering irony of some of Clinton's supporters demanding she be treated like a testosterone-filled masculine leader while simultaneously playing the gender victim card on her behalf, claiming the men are ganging up on her.

Pundits noted that Clinton's rivals exposed other inconsistencies, such as her promise that her husband would release the couple's private records at the Clinton Library while defending Bill's concealment of those records. Continued...