Hillary Clinton’s Priority: “Get Sons, Husbands Back From Iraq &…”
Hillary Clinton’s victory message to her supporters after her Nevada victory was loud and clear…the US troops must return home and end the trauma of American families. (See Nevada victory video here) Ms Clinton could have added that this step might also help end the trauma of wives, mothers and children elsewhere in the world.
The US troops’ issue is of serious concern to the world community. And for this reason itself, Ms Clinton’s clear stand of bringing the troops home as her first priority would create a great deal of interest in her campaign progress everywhere, despite a large section of media pointing out the flaws in her personality/campaign/style.
Ms Clinton also said this earlier: “If this president does not get us out of Iraq, when I am president, I will.” — (Democratic debate, South Carolina, April 26, 2007.)
While later she said “I will immediately move to begin bringing our troops home when I am inaugurated…[But there] may be a continuing counter-terrorism mission, which, if it still exists, will be aimed al Qaeda in Iraq. It may require combat, Special Operations Forces or some other form of that, but the vast majority of our combat troops should be out.” —– (Democratic debate, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, September 26, 2007.)
So the world (as also the worried and concerned Americans) eagerly await the moment when the difference between a clear stand and election rhetoric evaporates. More here…
Meanwhile in view of certain vicious attacks on Ms and Mr Clinton in the media and blogosphere, it would appear that the present incumbent in the White House is a Saint!!! In fact the media has virtually forgotten that there is a President in the White House whose actions still need to be critically scrutinised for almost a year.
Ms Clinton’s clear stand would make a greater impact because the US troops issue is highly emotional and sensitive and touches numerous families in the US. There are also other important issues that deserve clearer stand and need to be highlighted instead of the media drowning these in the cacophony of diversionary tactics of ‘racist’ and ’sexist’ drum-beating (as Chris Matthews of MSNBC may have realised to his discomfiture by now…click here…)
In the Nevada victory video I had mentioned above, Ms Clinton says: “I guess this is how the West was won. We will all be united in November. I don’t think politics is a game. I don’t think elections are just another day in the calendar.” More here…
Meanwhile a friend in India asked me: ‘Has a woman ever run for the Presidency of the US?’ I did not know the answer. It came from a woman in a letter to the editor in India. “Yes, Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to run for President in 1872. Interestingly, she was running for President even before women got the right to vote in the United States. Unfortunately, what she had to contend with was personal slander about her morality. Currently, it looks like Hillary Rodham Clinton is all set to run for President in the 2008 elections.— G Shobha, Mumbai”
The Times of India gives a simpler/understandable analysis of the US elections progress so far for people not living in America…”White House race becomes exhausting marathon”…Please click here And in London…yes, The Guardian…pl click here…
For an admirer’s account of Barack Obama — “Healer As President” —– (also in The Times of India)…Please click here…
A poem in praise of Hillary Clinton…pl click here…
Here is an interesting article from The Guardian: “Hillary Clinton claims the turning point in her presidential campaign was when she almost burst into tears. But was her emotion even genuine – and when did we start falling for such sob stories, asks Germaine Greer.” More here…
(Photo above: Hillary Clinton with troops in Iraq — courtesy AP)
