We’ve been quick to note the various times that prospective Dem 2016 candidate Hillary Clinton has stayed quietly on the sidelines rather than staking out a position on the critical issues of the day. With that in mind, we should give credit where credit is due. In the wake of President Obama’s move to sign executive amnesty into the books, the former Secretary of State came out strongly in support of the action.

Hillary Rodham Clinton voiced support Friday for President Barack Obama’s use of executive actions to protect about 5 million immigrants from deportation, setting up a sharp contrast with Republicans on an issue that could play a leading role in the next presidential campaign.

“I think the president took an historic step and I support it,” Clinton said in an appearance at the New York Historical Society, embracing her fellow Democrat’s moves to address immigration.

The former secretary of state, a potential Democratic presidential candidate, said Obama’s actions were in line with previous moves by Democratic and Republican presidents alike and urged Congress to “follow the lead” of a measure approved in the Senate in 2013. She also placed the efforts in the context of families, many of whom she said are longtime residents raising children and paying taxes.

Well, that seems clear enough. She’s on board, 100%. Clearly Obama was within his rights and she, as a potential future President, might feel free to take similar actions. But there’s one other thing which she and Barack Obama have in common here. They both were firmly opposed to such things before they were in favor of them. Let’s go to the way back machine, shall we, Mr. Peabody?

In 2006

We have a system of government, thank goodness. We have a constitutional democracy, if we can keep it against the most extraordinary claims of executive power that we’ve seen in the nation’s history.”

In 2008

This administration’s unbridled ambition to transform the executive into an imperial presidency in an attempt to strengthen the office has weakened our nation. It has corrupted and corroded our moral authority and brought our prestige and reputation to its lowest ebb.

And yet again

We’re going to get back to having a president who follows the Constitution, follows the laws, rebuilds accountability, and makes it clear that our system works best when we follow the way it’s supposed to work. Separation of powers, a co-equal branch of government in the Congress, in the Judiciary, that the Executive should not be trying to have so much power and abusing it.

See? That’s what we need more of in government. Nice, solid consistency coming from our candidates. Power for me, but not for thee. But isn’t that really always the way of things? In my hands it’s a shovel, but in yours it’s a blunt instrument. If there’s any good coming out of all this, Hillary will have a lot to answer for on the campaign trail next year.