Hilary Clinton faces an uphill battle on two fronts in the race for president. First, she must challenge the lightning rod that is Donald Trump, which can be done intellectually but but it may be more important to connect emotionally as well. Her critics charge that she is another big money candidate in the pockets of Wall Street and part of the elite establishment. But the challenge posed by Bernie Sanders moved her to start talking about what the voters are concerned with:
- Civil liberties and civil rights
- Police brutality, conduct and community relations
- Race and culture in America
- Income, wage, economic, housing, education and opportunity inequality
- Fairness in the tax code
- The national defense agenda
- The prison/military industrial complexes
- Commonsense approach to gun laws
- Universal Health Care
- Elections and political reforms including campaign finance and overturning Citizens United
- Immigration laws that are fair and just
Hilary Clinton is indeed talking the talk. After considering Elizabeth Warren, a fervent lefty, Clinton wound up choosing Tim Kaine. Clinton is carefully maneuvering in this unusual race for president, but she must remain committed to those voters that were behind Sanders, the working class Democrats, Independents and Libertarians.
While in office, though, many will be watching her every move to see how she stacks up for the issues listed above. Though she takes most of the African American vote, she will still need to prove herself to the growing skeptics in the circles of black intellectuals and organizations like Black Lives Matter, where deep-rooted trust issues with the establishment lay. She will also need to appeal to those hardline progressives that will not budge on left wing issues. The country itself is moving left as a whole.
Her charisma may or may not go far, but her experience in foreign affairs can have positive or negative effects, as we have already seen with the Benghazi and email scandals. She needs to start working on bringing Americans together, as has been talked about but not particularly well practiced by politicians of her stature.
Clinton will most likely be favored by foreign leaders, but there is concern among many who say Clinton is too easily baited by economic and political lure. It is also questionable how she will deal with the military industrial complex and anti-war advocates are very critical of her past voting records on various issues. These were hot button items during the debates while Sanders was campaigning still.
Image via Flickr by Mike Mozart under a Creative Commons 2.0.
