WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton, the ultimate girl-power activist, once backed registering women for the draft — but now she won’t take a position on the issue.
At a town hall forum Wednesday night in New Hampshire, Clinton punted on a question from CNN host Anderson Cooper on whether she supports a recommendation this week from leaders of the Army and Marine Corps that women should register like men.
“I have to think about whether I think it’s necessary to go as far as our military officers are recommending,” Clinton responded.
“You know, from my perspective, the all-volunteer military has worked, and we should not do anything that undermines it because it has provided a solid core of people who are willing to serve our country. The idea of having everybody register concerns me a little bit, unless we have a better idea of where that’s going to come out.”
But Clinton was asked the exact same question in a July 23, 2007, Democratic debate by the exact same moderator — Anderson Cooper — and gave a different answer.
“Senator Clinton, do you think women should register for Selective Service?” Cooper asked at a South Carolina debate.
Clinton didn’t hesitate: “I do. I don’t support a draft. I think our all-volunteer military has performed superbly. But we’ve had women die in Iraq. We’ve had combat deaths of women in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I do think that women should register. I doubt very much that we’ll ever have to go back to a draft. But I think it is fair to call upon every young American.”
At a Senate hearing Tuesday, Marine Gen. Robert Neller and Army Gen. Mark Milley both said women should be required to register now that the military has opened combat roles to women.
Clinton backer Sen. Claire McCaskill favors women registering and pressed the generals on their position.
“Part of me believes that asking women to register as we ask men to register would, maybe possibly, open up more recruits as women begin to think about, well, the military is an option for me,” McCaskill said.
Clinton’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the change in position.