This has to be the most inauthentic, contrived, fake presidential campaign in American history. Hillary Clinton claims she wants to be the “champion” of the little guy, the downtrodden, “regular” people.
Of course she’s lived in a bubble for the past 35 years. As the wife of a Governor, then a President, and being one of only 100 Senators, and then Secretary of State, she’s had handlers deal with most of the “regular” people for her.
And then when it comes to her supposedly actually meeting with the “regular” folks in Iowa last week, those regular folks turned out to be plants – a Clinton campaign intern, a Planned Parenthood staffer, etc., and only after they’d been fully-vetted by the Clinton campaign so they didn’t ask any unscripted or embarrassing questions. Unless all of America is made up of Hillary campaign workers now, she sure isn’t meeting with “regular” people.
And the mainstream press for the most part is, not unexpectedly, letting her get away with it. Rather than press her with tough questions, as they have Rand Paul, Chris Christie, and Ted Cruz for example, they let themselves be manipulated by the Clinton team. Several dozen top media outlets attended a pre-announcement dinner with Hillary and her campaign manager, John Podesta, in effect allowing themselves to be compromised even before the campaign officially got underway. Then the press looked completely feckless, chasing after her “Scooby van” like lemmings. It’s just embarrassing.
One of Hillary’s top campaign issues will apparently be getting big money out of politics. This from the candidate who reportedly intends to raise $2.5 billion for her campaign, which will smash every previous record in history, including even that of her predecessor, Barack Obama, who was no slouch when it came to raising big bucks for politics. She’s also got some ‘splaining to do as a result of the new book coming out this week “Clinton Cash” which reportedly ties her decisions made as Secretary of State, with jaw-dropping contributions made to her husband Bill in the form of speaker fees. We’ll see how that plays out.
She could still be challenged for the Democratic nomination for President, but at this point, it looks like any Democrat challenge will be token at best. The names we see thus far, Martin O’Malley, Bernie Sanders, Jim Webb, etc. – big deal. She’ll be the Democratic nominee. And for all her flaws, she’ll be formidable.
The changing demographics of the nation have been favoring Democrats at the presidential level for several decades now. (Republicans still do reasonably well at the Congressional level.) So in order to defeat Hillary Clinton, and therefore prevent Barack Obama’s policies from having, in effect, a third term, it’s up to the Republican presidential candidates and their supporters to be at the top of their game.
I would like to see Republican candidates follow Ronald Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment: “thou shalt not speak ill of other Republican candidates.” Limit criticism to Barak Obama’s policies, and most especially, to Hillary Clinton. Not to her personally, but to her record as a United States Senator, and as Secretary of State, and her stand on the issues. There is plenty to choose from there. The circular firing squad of Republican candidates firing at each other would only result in a wounded and bloody Republican candidate limping into the general election against Hillary. It’s fine that each Republican candidate put forth positions on a whole range of issues, and differentiate their positions in the debates and on the campaign trail. But they should reserve their criticism for Hillary. She’s the one we need to beat. Not each other.
Anyway, that’s the way I see it. And it’s our duty to win the presidency in the fall of 2016. I’m afraid our country couldn’t survive another disastrous presidency like the one we’re currently living through.
