Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Winning Candidate?

In a run-up to what promises to be one of the most contentious and historic American presidential elections, Hillary Rodham Clinton has become a major contender for the White House. In nationwide polls including all major Democratic hopefuls, Clinton tends to come out on top, with Barack Obama following close behind (http://www.pollingreport.com). Against the current Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani, results are within a few percentage points and seem to be too close to call.

But information about candidate popularity only begs the question, what makes Hillary Clinton the best candidate for the job? Why should she be popular? And, perhaps most importantly to liberal voters everywhere, can she win?

First of all, Clinton has bold new plans that could change the dialogue on major issues in this country, and these plans are being formed via open dialogue with the American people. She has begun a discussion based around a plan to provide all Americans with universal healthcare, she believes in bringing industry back to America via a system of social programs that will create new jobs, and she wants to effectively end the war in Iraq through use of a timetable that will make the Iraqi people responsible for their own governance and disputes.

As concerns the Iraqi war, Clinton noted in a recent address to congress that "for four years, members on both sides of the aisle have watched with shock and dismay as our President has made mistake, after misjudgment, after miscalculation" (http://www.hillaryclinton.com). Her proposals place the responsibility for the war squarely in the hands of the congress, saying that it [has been] the failure of this Congress to engage in its constitutional obligation of the majority's refusal to hold the Administration accountable" (Clinton). Her plans in this same speech outline a timeline in which, "as a means to increase our leverage with the Iraqi government and to clearly send a message that there are consequences to their inaction, I would impose conditions for continued funding of the Iraqi security forces and the private contractors working for the Iraqis" (Clinton). These well-reasoned guidelines will create an environment that will end the steady stream of casualties coming out of Iraq in the near future, as opposed to the negligent and ambiguous plans of the current administration.

As concerns health care, Clinton's recent speech to the SEIU and the Center for American Progress outlines several major principles in her plan to enact universal health care coverage. For one thing, she will introduce legislation that will stop insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions, who wish to use preventive care, or who are high risk. Secondly, she seeks to put legislative controls on the steadily rising price of health care. And third, she seeks to make all employers responsible for helping employees get affordable health care, or alternatively for paying into a governmental tax pool that will be used to subsidize insurance for the uninsured who cannot afford health care. This humanitarian and logical plan will place us on the map of industrialized nations who provide this service, since America is now the only first-world nation not to provide health care universally.

Economic policy can make or break an election. Clinton can build here on the success of her husband's administration in balancing the budget and managing one of the greatest periods of growth and prosperity in our nation's history. In her words "it is here that our government is missing opportunities to help provide the best environment for businesses to start and grow. Our global competitors, on the other hand, are making strategic choices for their own futures. We need to do the same" (Clinton, The Economic Club of Chicago's 78th Annual Dinner Meeting). To take advantage of these opportunities Clinton proposes a plan akin to the Clinton plan of years past: "the way to get our economic national power back is to, first of all, cut the deficit" (Clinton). She wants to be able to track, empirically, what the effects of trade agreements are that we sign, and renew those agreements based on five year tracking, not on theoretical modeling. All of this is based on the backbone of "economic security for the middle class" which "goes hand in hand with economic growth for the rest of us because the strains on the American middle class are also the strains on American business" (Clinton). Bush's tax cuts put pressure on the middle class because trickle-down theory does not functionally work for a moral society that acts with concern for the economic prosperity of its citizenry. Clinton knows that this is the case, and wants to switch economic gears to make things better for the rest of us who aren't making six figure salaries.

Beyond these key issues, Clinton has a stellar liberal voting record. She does not simply stand as a pro-choice advocate, but seeks to promote health care education that will actually reduce the eventuality of abortion (http://www.vote-smart.org/). She understands that the best way to prevent abortion is not to make it illegal, which would force many women towards unsafe health practices, but to educate more people about birth control and safe sexual practice (she voted yes on the Unintended Pregnancy Amendment). Clinton also voted against a constitutional amendment defining marriage as simply between a man and a woman, voted for an amendment to decrease the consumption of foreign oil by 40% by 2025, and voted for an amendment to promote the production of cars with hydrogen fuel cells (http://www.vote-smart.org/).

On the whole Hillary Clinton has impressive ideas and a great record for the liberal vote. Clearly there are good reasons for her to be popular, make headway, and win as the first female president of the United States.