Sunday, January 31, 2016

Will Foreign Policy And National Security Be The Pathway For Hillary Clinton To The White House?

Democratic U.S. presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shares a laugh with fellow candidate and Senator Bernie Sanders at the conclusion of the second official 2016 U.S. Democratic presidential candidates debate in Des Moines, Iowa, November 14, 2015. REUTERS/JIM YOUNG

Molly O'Toole, Foreign Policy: Clinton’s Trying to Use Foreign Policy to Beat Sanders

Here's why it could backfire.

Heading into the home stretch of the unexpectedly close Iowa caucus, an anxious Hillary Clinton is increasingly wielding foreign policy and national security as a weapon against Bernie Sanders — an unexpected and high-risk approach that could backfire on the Democratic front-runner.

Early on in her campaign, Clinton kept her distance from a spate of global security crises that have beleaguered the second Obama administration. When polls first began tightening, Clinton and surrogates like her daughter, Chelsea, drilled down on domestic issues, accusing Sanders of being too close to the nation’s gun-makers and questioning his commitment to universal health care. Now, with Clinton leading narrowly in Iowa but Sanders leading by large margins in New Hampshire, she is taking a different tack, hammering him for his alleged naiveté on Iran, Russia, and other hot-button issues. Clinton calls it the “let’s get real” period.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: I am surprised by this focus on Bernie Sanders from the Clinton camp. Grant you that she does have problems in Iowa and New Hampshire, but her electoral position in the other states is  solid, and she has the support of the Democrat establishment. My guess is that her internal polling is telling her that her foreign policy and national security positions are a plus .... and that she should run on this platform. I am personal sceptical that it will work .... but the Iowa caucus is tomorrow .... and we will know by then if this was a smart strategy.

2 comments:

Jay Farquharson said...

WNU Editor,

I talk to a lot of engaged, committed Dems,

Even the rabid pro-Hillary acknowledge that he FP and Nstional Security record is horrible.

The Hillary supporters strongest argument is that Bernie doesn't " know" how to "get things done" in Washington, and Hillary does. They also claim that much of what Bernie has for a platform, will never be accepted by Washington.

The Bernie guys and dolls have started with a visual meme,

It' a poster stylized like the Obama/Hope poster, , but with Grumpy Cat instead, with the motto, "Yes, We Can't".

TWN said...

Queen of corruption, needs to go to prison.