As Hillary Clinton Shifts Themes, Debate Arises on Her Motives.

Conservatives have long caricatured Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York's junior senator, as the sort of Democrat whose positions on social issues are out of step with Americans deeply concerned about religious and moral values.

But while Mrs. Clinton has been strongly identified with polarizing issues like abortion rights, the picture that conservative Republicans paint of her is at odds with a side of herself she has lately displayed as she enters a new phase of her public life.

In a recent series of public appearances, Mrs. Clinton has generated considerable attention - and, in some cases, scorn - by imbuing her remarks with mentions of God, faith, prayer and the need to be more tolerant of people who are opposed to abortion and gay marriage because of their beliefs.

By design or not, Mrs. Clinton has displayed remarkable timing. Her comments come against the backdrop of the Democratic Party's efforts to shed its secular image after suffering major electoral defeats in November at the hands of Republicans, who emphasized Christian values in their campaigns.

The recent pronouncements of Mrs. Clinton, who is widely considered a possible candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, are a matter of considerable debate.

Are they a calculated effort to court religious traditionalists as she positions herself to run for the presidency, as her critics maintain?

Or do they reflect the true convictions of a woman who has sought to give a fuller picture of herself since leaving the White House and who, associates say, has been deeply and openly religious her entire life?

Putting those questions aside, the comments are also striking because they come from a highly reserved, and even guarded, woman who in the past has invoked a zone of privacy in declining to talk about intimate matters.

In [a recent] speech, Mrs. Clinton also told the audience that it would be "a great disservice to dismiss" the concerns of Americans who were driven to the polls because of their opposition to issues like gay marriage. "People had deeply held feelings," she said.

In another recent appearance in Boston, Mrs. Clinton argued that religious people ought to be permitted to "live out their faith in the public square" and said that she herself had "always been a praying person." In that address, she mentioned God more than a dozen times.

Mrs. Clinton weighed in on the debate over abortion recently, telling a prominent abortion-rights group in New York that adversaries on the issue should come together on "common ground" to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. The senator also praised religious organizations for promoting abstinence.

[This speech was the subject of a 01-25-05 post entitled "Leaping Lizards! Hillary is reading the Cracker Squire. Welcome aboard, but we can't support you in '08. - Clinton Seeks Shared Ground Over Abortions."]

Her aides say there was nothing new about her position, arguing that it was consistent with comments she had made in the past as well as her husband's call for making abortion "safe, legal and rare."

But others, including Democratic allies, said her decision to speak out on the issue now was politically noteworthy, particularly since some Democrats believe the party needs to soften its stance on abortion in order to appeal to religious conservatives who often agree with Democrats on issues like social welfare and jobs.

(02-01-05 New York Times.)