Elliot Spitzer announced this morning that he is abandoning his plan to provide driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.  The announcement comes the day before the Democratic Presidential Candidate Debate at UNLV to be broadcast on CNN.  This means there is less likelihood that Hillary Clinton will have to answer questions about her position on the issue.

The question of whether or not Hillary supports Spitzer’s plan has haunted the Clinton campaign ever since it was asked at the last Democrat Debate.  Hillary managed to do a flip flop in the course of less than two minutes.  The fall-out from the debate debacle has continued for two weeks, her poll numbers are falling and the nomination, once considered a sure thing, is slipping slowly away from her.

As the debate draws nearer, there has been speculation about whether Wolf Blitzer, or the other Democratic nominees, would have the guts to ask Mrs. Clinton for clarification on the issue.  With Spitzer’s announcement, however, it would seem that the issue is off the table.  At least, it seems that there would be little point in phrasing it the same way.

Any questions about immigration will need to be cased in a broader, more hypothetical, manner.  This saves Hillary from looking ridiculous trying to frame an answer to include all of her previous positions.  Also, it will allow her to lather the blame onto the Bush administration as she tried to do in the last debate.

Moving the debate back into abstracts will work in favor of the Clinton campaign.  One has to wonder if the was Spitzer’s intention in withdrawing his plan.  In any case, Hillary has shown her true colors and as long as we can remember who she is, it won’t matter who runs to pull difficult issues out of her way.

Read more about Spitzer’s announcement here: N. Y. Govenor abandons driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants.