Is America ready for its first female head of state?
Even before Barack Obama was re-elected in 2012, political pundits were talking about Hillary Rodham Clinton making another run for president in 2016. Hillary, of course, wasn’t joining the discussion.
Would she like to be president? CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked her in 2011. "No," she said.
When she left the secretary of state job in early 2013 to become a plain old private citizen for the first time in 30 years, she said she wanted to take some time off, work on a new book, pursue philanthropy. But pollsters and pundits already were naming her the Democratic frontrunner for the next election.
Former staffers and volunteers started a political action committee, Ready for Hillary.
She made headlines with a politically charged announcement: For the first time she supported the right of gay couples to marry. And she set up a Twitter account that left open her future plans, listing all her former jobs.
Her @HillaryClinton profile at the time: "Wife, mom, lawyer, women & kids advocate, FLOAR, FLOTUS, US Senator, SecState, author, dog owner, hair icon, pantsuit aficionado, glass ceiling cracker, TBD..."
Even so, she told everyone who asked that she hadn’t made a decision. Instead, she painted a picture of a quiet, almost boring life after so many years of being in the public eye. She organised her closets ("very calming," she told people).
She caught up on Dancing with the Stars, one of her mom’s favourite shows. In truth, she didn’t stay still for very long.
In 2013, she and Chelsea joined Bill’s charitable foundation, and it was renamed the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation. Hillary began work on programmes to support women and children, including one aimed at helping young children and another aimed at advancing opportunities for women and girls around the world.
Like Bill, she joined the speaker’s circuit, earning around $200,000 an appearance, with the funds often donated to the Clinton Foundation. She also finished that book she promised. Hard Choices, a 596-page region-by-region account of her time as secretary of state, was published in June 2014.
The 66-year-old headed out on an extensive book tour, starting with a television interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer. For the most part, Hillary was the careful statesman, admitting that her campaign strategy fell short in 2008, refusing to accept personal blame for the Benghazi disaster, and declining to talk about Monica Lewinsky, who was back in the news.
Profitable Speeches
Then, the couple’s huge speaking fees came up. Sawyer noted reports that Hillary had made $5 million from speeches and that Bill had made much more. In fact, according to tax returns released during the 2008 campaign, the couple had made a total of $109 million in the previous eight years, largely from book royalties and Bill’s speaking fees.
"You have no reason to remember," Hillary told her, "but we came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt. We had no money when we got there, and we struggled to piece together the resources for mortgages, for houses, for Chelsea’s education. You know, it was not easy."
In a flash, it was as if the other Hillary had returned, the one with a tin ear that sometimes made her sound out of tune. True, the Clintons left the White House millions of dollars in debt. But they also had the friends and connections to quickly purchase two million-dollar homes and the ability to earn with a single appearance or speech way more than an average family makes in a year.
The comment crash-landed like so many had before, prompting endless talk-show commentary, columns, and criticism. At best, she was rusty in her political skills. At worst, she could be seen as dishonest, spinning a story to get sympathy.
Three weeks later, Hillary said she regretted her description of their finances. Though it was accurate, "it was inartful," she said. "We are so successful and so blessed by the success we’ve had."
On a Sunday afternoon in mid-April 2015, after months of speculation, she finally declared her candidacy and quickly became the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. Still, she had much to prove. Although she was positioning herself as a supporter of the middle class, someone who would address soaring college debt and income inequality, she would have to run a better campaign than she had in 2008.
Telling her mother’s story of a rough start that benefited from the support and kindness of others, she hoped to show that she understood regular Americans, even as she and Bill had become truly rich.
Clinton fatigue
Then there was the issue of Clinton fatigue. She was still married to Bill, who was still her best asset and her greatest liability. She could face backlash from voters who wanted a new face. Hillary would have to win and keep voters’ trust, which seemed to be a constant challenge.
Almost as soon as she entered the race, she was under fire. Bill’s foundation admitted that it hadn’t followed all the rules about disclosures and foreign donations while she was secretary of state. And there were many questions about her decision to use her personal e-mail account during that time, including whether classified information had been sent from that account.
In hindsight, she said, she should have used a government account — but that didn’t staunch worries about her judgement. Beyond that, was she likable enough? Would she seem energetic and with-it enough?
If elected, she would be 69 when she took office, the second-oldest president in US history behind Ronald Reagan. In 2008, Hillary said that voters had addressed the question: "Could a woman really serve as commander-in-chief?"
As the 2016 elections approached, another question remained for voters to answer: Could this woman be America’s next commander-in-chief?
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| Hillary by Karen Blumenthal; Bloomsbury; Rs 599 |
Reprinted with the publisher's permission.
(Courtesy of Mail Today.)