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 Politics Archive 2015






Hillary Clinton-Smart...but Strong
by Nathan'ette Burdine: June 28, 2015    Update-June 30, 2015
 


Hillary Clinton wants the public to see her as an intelligent, strong woman who is capable of handling the challenges that come along with being the president of the United States.

During her official campaign rally on New York’s Roosevelt Island, Clinton stressed the need for the country’s next president to be “smart as well as strong.”

Clinton told the crowd of supporters, “-I know we have to be smart as well as strong…And we all know that in order to be strong in the world, though, we first have to be strong at home.”

Clinton’s vision of being “smart as well as strong” includes strengthening the economy by investing in education and job training, supporting the family unit, maintaining America’s role as the world’s number one superpower, and having an inclusive government.

Clinton believes that the time she served as a U.S. senator from the state of New York and as the secretary of state has given her the skills and experience she needs in order to be an intelligent and strong president.

It is true that unlike her Republican and Democratic opponents, Clinton’s experiences give her greater insight into how the policy and politics works at the domestic and international levels.

Knowledge of domestic and foreign policy is something that the presidential candidates need if they want to have any chance at making it into the White House.

However, the problem that the former secretary of state faces is not the knowledge and experience that she has, but it is the type of person she is.

There have long been talks about the Clintons having a talent for “dirty politics.” The Whitewater, Travel Gate, and Monica Lewinsky scandals kept the Clintons rather busy during the 90s.

Several congressional hearings were held and a special prosecutor, Kenneth Starr, was assigned to investigate the allegations of fraud in the Whitewater case and the replacement of the Travel Office staff with Hillary Clinton’s friends.

The Whitewater case, which triggered investigations into the Travel Gate and Monica Lewinsky cases, resulted in New York Times Columnist William Safire saying that Hillary Clinton “is in the longtime habit of lying.”

Unfortunately for Hillary Clinton, the belief that the truth isn’t in her continues today. Her decision to set up a separate email from her home office, while secretary of state, was seen by some as more evidence of the former secretary of state trying to hide something.

And the something some believe she’s trying to hide is her questionable relationship with foreign leaders who’ve allegedly received favors from the State Department in exchange for the money they gave to the Clinton Global Initiative.

Hillary Clinton denies any wrongdoing, but the similarities between the three scandals in the 90s and the email scandal are just too much for people to ignore.

Although it is true that a CNN/ORC poll shows that over 60% of voters believe the emails won’t show that Clinton did anything wrong, the poll results also show that the reports about Clinton’s private email server have coincided with a drop in the percentage of voters who believe that she is “honest and trustworthy.”

In over a year, the percentage of voters who believe Clinton is “honest and trustworthy” has dropped from 56% to 42%.

The 14 percentage point drop shows that Clinton has a steep hill to climb when it comes to convincing voters about her honesty and trustworthiness.

Unlike her democratic and Republican opponents, Clinton has spent over two decades in the national spotlight and the public’s perception about her has already been formed.

The image the public has of her is one of Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde. There’s the image of Clinton as an intelligent, strong woman who is smart enough to be the first woman president.

But then there’s the other image of Clinton as a person who is dishonest and non-trustworthy, and who is therefore better fit to be a swindler and not the president of the United States.

And it is the latter image that Clinton must convince the public she is not if she wants to have a chance at becoming the first woman president.




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