Daily Times

The traditional supporters of the Democratic Party and Clinton loyalists believed that former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton would make a successful bid for the 2016 presidential election. They held this view while she was leading the State Department. After she left that office, there were intense speculations about her entering the race. True to the speculation, Hillary Clinton became the first to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidential election. She was confident that her role as first lady and more recently as Secretary of State would make her bid well-received by the party leaderships and cohorts. Making a departure from her previous strategy, she began addressing small gatherings in different states and felt this was the appropriate mechanism to get closer to the electorates. She exchanged views with the people, which may have helped in retrofitting her strategy.
Bernie Sanders, a long time senator, well respected for his opinions that sometimes transcended the avowed policy of the party, announced his candidacy at the beginning of the year. He had opposed the Iraq war and called for a fair resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Sanders pledged to exorcise income inequality at home, higher taxes for the affluent and a humane approach toward undocumented immigrants. At the beginning, he was not taken seriously but as time passed, he was able to attract huge crowds in the mid-west and the west coast. Progressive Democrats and liberal Republicans started paying attention to his speeches. He is branded as a socialist and has never made dissonant remarks about his adversaries, belonging to either the Democratic or Republican parties. Sander’s huge campaign rallies have been heavily attended by young voters and during his long political career he has demonstrated an appeal to lower income groups across the political divide. His campaign in the past 30 years however, remained confined to his native state of Vermont, where population is overwhelmingly Caucasian.
The pro-establishment elements amongst the Democrats are trying to persuade Vice President Joe Biden to join the race. Biden, who has tried twice for the White House unsuccessfully, is well known for his skills to reach out to political adversaries and is a favourite amongst donors. His entry, some argue, would generate the much needed exuberance that is now extinguished in the rank and file of the Democratic Party. However, the death of his elder son Boe Biden was a devastating blow to the Vice President and is feared to have robbed him of the emotional strength required to undertake the painstaking campaign. Biden is reported to be in consultation with his friends. He is expected to make his decision public soon.
Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee and former Senator Jim Webb have also thrown their hats in the ring but none of them have initiated serious campaigns or set up any mechanism to mobilise the public. They have restricted themselves in issuing statements from time to time.
Hillary Clinton is acclaimed for her initiative, as first lady, to reform the health care system to enable the low income population to access medical facilities. The initiative fell through due to a lack of support from Congress. Her husband still enjoys huge popularity at home and is respected abroad. The economic growth, lower unemployment rates and racial harmony witnessed during his terms as president are still remembered by the people. The US-led military intervention in Bosnia, the Détente Agreement, halting the genocide in Rwanda and Burundi, the end of apartheid in South Africa and the peace initiative in the Middle East are the milestones of the successful foreign policy. The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), founded by President Clinton after he left the office, has been serving as a pedestal to address hunger and poverty around the globe.
Hillary Clinton’s town-hall style meetings have failed to get publicity in the media. In the meantime, the campaigns of the Republican hopefuls have created momentum. Seventeen candidates held the first debate hosted by the Fox News Channel. Donald Trump, the billionaire, made profligate pronouncements about undocumented immigrants and women that are seldom heard in the political lexicon. He resolved to erect walls along the US-Mexico border to prevent the influx of Latino immigrants, deport over 11 million illegal immigrants and bomb the oil fields under the control of Islamic State and has turned out to be the front runner of the party. Jeb Bush, Scot Walker, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul have been trailing far behind Donald Trump. He has been able to get wide coverage, both in the print and electronic media — much more so than other candidates from both parties. Trump’s meetings are attended by thousands, though the Republican leadership is concerned that his offensive remarks against immigrants would alienate Latino voters and inflict long term damage to the party. His recent proposal to impose higher taxes on the affluent and corporations is deemed incongruous with Republican philosophy.
Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, used her private email server for official communications, contrary to the established procedure. Once this was uncovered, Clinton denied any wrong doing. As her opponents demanded the release of those emails, she deleted her “personal emails” and transferred 30,000 pages to the official server. The deletion of those emails was questioned and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun scrutinising the emails. Over 7,000 pages have been released and 150 emails have been marked as classified. Some of the emails apparently dealt with the funding of the CGI and officials admitted receipt of funding from external donors. CGI corrected the records and has claimed to have submitted clarifications to the Internal Revenue Service.
Legal experts maintain that the use of a private server at the State Department, though not authorised, is not criminal offence. However, deleting emails, classified or not, cast a shadow on the credibility of Clinton and weakened her standing. A new poll released on Saturday showed a downward trajectory in Iowa. She leads Sanders by seven points. She has been commissioned to testify before the Benghazi Congressional Committee on October 22. The email controversy, regardless of the deliberations in Congress, will haunt her until the election is over.
Though Sander’s populist campaign generated considerable exuberance amongst the young, it has not yet attracted African-American and Latino voters. He also lacks the kind of election machinery and funding required to sustain the campaign until the party convention next summer. Joe Biden, if he joins the race, would affect Clinton’s chances adversely but is unlikely to cost her the nomination. The members of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) seem to be in favour of Clinton.
The DNC has decided to hold six debates but the first debate is due end October. The challenge for the Democratic Party and its candidates lies in generating enthusiasm amongst its activists and supporters. Sanders and O’Malley have asked for more debates and denounced the DNC for axing the number of debates to help out Clinton. Sanders acknowledged that the challenges lies ahead but remonstrated that he had made a political career defying expectations and should not be underestimated because voters are genuinely demanding something very different. On the other hand, Clinton will have to extricate herself from her self-inflicted email debacle and prove beyond doubt that she is trustworthy. She must aggressively broaden the campaign and explain how she would lead the United States in the face of growing challenges posed by Russia and China.

The writer is a former official of the United Nations