If the job were available through a job interview only she would ace it. She ticks all the boxes: experience, intellect, insight. She has handled high-powered jobs before.
If this was a horse race Clinton would be 20 lengths ahead. Her Democratic opponent Bernie Sanders has passed one bill on veteran’s affairs during his time in the Senate. Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson never served a political day in their lives. Senator Ted Cruz seems to be running for pastor as much as president, and Senator Marco Rubio is beginning to look like Dan Quayle.
Meanwhile, Governor Chris Christie comes across as a bully, and Carly Fiorina seems like a poor imitation of Margaret Thatcher. Governor John Kasich alone has experience as both a senior House representative and governor, and is Clinton’s only likely match which of course makes him unelectable to Republicans.
There is so much agita and anger over Clinton whipped up by the likes of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh that some folks seem to honestly believe she is the anti-Christ.
At the moment most of their freak-outs revolve around emails. It now appears that other secretaries of state, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, also received classified information through personal accounts, though they were classified later.
Powell convinced the UN Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and helped start the Iraq war. Rice ignored evidence that Bin Laden was ready to attack America -- yet we rarely hear such truths told.
Likewise, President George W. Bush got us into war where up to one million Iraqis died and 5,0000 Americans were killed. The American economy almost collapsed under his watch.
Clinton’s mistake was to have no such massive crises other than Benghazi where five people were killed.
Her crime is being around too long. She and her husband have been in national politics since 1991. The Republican hierarchy despises the Clintons because they made Democrats electable again. Since Bill won in 1992 they have won every election, including the popular vote in 2000 which Bush won via the Supreme Court because of disputes over Florida votes. Bush did win re-election after 9/11.
Now the nightmare has begun to recur again as Hillary seems bound to take the Democratic nomination. She’d be the first to admit she does not match her husband’s brilliant oratory in speech making, but she has a fire in her eyes. She knows this is her last rodeo win or lose, and she is throwing everything at it.
I campaigned for Hillary last Saturday in New Hampshire with a group of Irish Americans. Backstage afterwards she lingered with supporters including her Irish group which had come from New York.
I'm proud to say I was a co-founder of Irish Americans for Bill Clinton back in 1991 at Fitzpatrick's Hotel. It has been a long and remarkable journey especially through the peace process years when the Clinton backing was critical.
As for her Republican opponents, Clinton says anger is not a strategy which is all some of the GOP candidates seem to have to offer.
As the race moves to South Carolina and Nevada I fully expect her to quickly take control. Sanders is no Barack Obama, and the ethnic mix from now on changes dramatically from 95 percent white electorate in New Hampshire.
Sanders has done Clinton a valuable service, sharpening her game for the attacks to come and she seems ready to assume control of the race. But this being politics, no one can ever be truly certain.
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