Daily Times

As the ideological gap between the Democratic and Republican parties widens, the Democrats are becoming increasingly clear on their support for minorities, gay rights and women. It is high time for a female US president and the Democratic Party is ready to become the first major party to put up a woman for President. According to a preliminary poll, 81 percent of Democrats support Clinton’s nomination. Although there can be no speculation this early in the game about Hillary’s chances of winning the elections, it is highly probable that Clinton will be able to snag the Democrat nomination, given the depleted bench of the Democrats’ possible presidential nominees and without an incumbent Democrat President vying for re-election. However, the Democrats’ inability to put forth a strong opposing candidate to Hillary may harm them in the long run. Recently, the Republican Party has been incorporating new faces and young members into their caucus, an endeavour in which the Democrats have been lagging behind. Just the variety of strong candidates from the Republican Party alone could mar the Democrat’s chances of staying in the White House.

After her stints as senator, First Lady and Secretary of State, Clinton’s views on foreign policy and major internal issues are more or less known to the American public. However, she will have to clearly redefine her stance on these issues because she will be facing a rapidly changing world and political scene during her presidency, if elected. Though it is too early to tell what the cornerstones of her campaign will be, Clinton’s video message, which was released on Sunday to announce her presidential bid, showcases middle class Americans and she has vowed to be a “champion” of the “Everyday American”. In a post-recession US, Hillary is striking out from the word go on the populist issues of gender-based income equality and looking out for the economic interests of the 99 percent. John Podesta, Hillary’s campaign chairman, tweeted, “Helping working families succeed, building small businesses, tackling climate change & clean energy” will be on the “top of the agenda”. If the campaign remains true to this sentiment, Hillary will become the first presidential candidate to make the environment a top priority (even Al Gore did not make global warming a major issue in his 2000 election campaign). Political campaigns in the US tend to devolve into personal attack advertisements and exploitation of scandals. There is no doubt that the Republicans will use all the looming spectres of the Clintons’ political and personal past to defeat Hillary. Members of the Republican caucus have already begun tweeting under #StopHillary and some have even brought up the recent controversy regarding her use of a personal email address as Secretary of State and the donations of world leaders to her philanthropic foundation, but one can only hope that this campaign will boil down to the issues in the end. *