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In subtle moves, Hillary Clinton creates distance from Obama
(Reuters) - Just over a year after leaving her job as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton has offered views on foreign policy that analysts said seem part of an effort to distance herself from the Obama administration as she prepares a possible 2016 White House run.
In appearances this month, Clinton struck a hawkish tone on issues including Iran and Russia, even while expressing broad support for the work done by Obama and her successor as secretary of state, John Kerry.
Clinton said in New York on Wednesday night she was "personally skeptical" of Iran's commitment to reaching a comprehensive agreement on its nuclear program.
"I've seen their behavior over (the) years," she said, saying that if the diplomatic track failed, "every other option does remain on the table."
Just two weeks earlier, Clinton was forced to backtrack after she drew parallels between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler at a closed-door fundraiser. In comments leaked to the media by a local reporter who attended the event, Clinton said Putin's justifications for his actions in the Crimean region were akin to moves Hitler made in the years before World War Two.
"I'm not making a comparison, certainly, but I am recommending that we can perhaps learn from this tactic that has been used before," she said the next day at an event in Los Angeles.
As secretary of state, Clinton was a key player in a U.S. effort to reset relations with Russia, a policy that critics say now appears to be a glaring failure.
Clinton's recent rhetoric on Iran and Russia is part of a renewed focus on foreign policy for the former first lady and New York senator, who is widely considered the Democratic presidential front-runner in 2016 if she chooses to run.
She has been giving speeches across the country since leaving the State Department, but Wednesday's address was her first on-the-record event in recent months focused solely on international relations.
'NOT THE SAME CANDIDATE'
"Secretary Clinton is distancing herself a bit on foreign policy matters from the administration recently," said John Hudak, a Brookings Institution fellow and expert on presidential campaigns. "This is a pretty standard practice for anyone looking to succeed the sitting president, even within the same party."
"It's one of the first steps for her to say, 'We're not the same candidate,'" he said.
Clinton's office did not respond to questions about the issue.
Creating space between her position and Obama's is a "smart move," said Hank Sheinkopf, a New York-based Democratic strategist who worked for the 1996 presidential re-election campaign of Hillary Clinton's husband, Bill Clinton.
"The present administration is in a no-win situation with Russia, with Syria and in the Middle East," Sheinkopf said before Clinton's New York speech. "Making a distance from them can only help."
During her four-year tenure in the State Department, Clinton helped lead the charge on imposing strong sanctions on Iran, which she mentioned in her New York speech to a pro-Israel audience - including several Democratic lawmakers - at an American Jewish Congress dinner honoring her.
In late January, Clinton sent a letter to Carl Levin, Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, calling herself a "longtime advocate for crippling sanctions against Iran," but urging that Congress not impose new sanctions during negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program.
She said that like Obama, she had no illusions about the ease or likelihood of reaching a permanent deal with Iran following an interim agreement reached under Kerry.
"Yet I have no doubt that this is the time to give our diplomacy the space to work," a stance she reaffirmed on Wednesday.
Republicans have promised to make Clinton's State Department record an issue if she runs for the White House, focusing on the 2012 attacks on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed.
The Republican National Committee has condemned Clinton's handling of the Benghazi assault, suggesting in a recent research note that "Benghazi is still the defining moment of Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State."
Some political analysts see her toughening rhetoric as more than a campaign tactic, and fitting with her foreign policy statements before joining the Obama administration. They said that could broaden her appeal to voters if she chooses to run, a decision she has said will not come until the end of this year.
Clinton, while a senator, voted in 2002 for a resolution authorizing U.S. military action against Iraq, a position that hurt her with liberal primary voters in her losing battle with Obama for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
"Making a credible and forceful case for America's place in the world - that's the kind of thing she's likely to say and continue to say," said Josh Block, a former Clinton administration official and now an executive at the Israel Project in Washington. "Those are messages that will resonate with Democrats and independents, as well as some Republicans."
SOURCE: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/20/us-usa-politics-clinton-idUSBREA2J2BL20140320
In appearances this month, Clinton struck a hawkish tone on issues including Iran and Russia, even while expressing broad support for the work done by Obama and her successor as secretary of state, John Kerry.
Clinton said in New York on Wednesday night she was "personally skeptical" of Iran's commitment to reaching a comprehensive agreement on its nuclear program.
"I've seen their behavior over (the) years," she said, saying that if the diplomatic track failed, "every other option does remain on the table."
Just two weeks earlier, Clinton was forced to backtrack after she drew parallels between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler at a closed-door fundraiser. In comments leaked to the media by a local reporter who attended the event, Clinton said Putin's justifications for his actions in the Crimean region were akin to moves Hitler made in the years before World War Two.
"I'm not making a comparison, certainly, but I am recommending that we can perhaps learn from this tactic that has been used before," she said the next day at an event in Los Angeles.
As secretary of state, Clinton was a key player in a U.S. effort to reset relations with Russia, a policy that critics say now appears to be a glaring failure.
Clinton's recent rhetoric on Iran and Russia is part of a renewed focus on foreign policy for the former first lady and New York senator, who is widely considered the Democratic presidential front-runner in 2016 if she chooses to run.
She has been giving speeches across the country since leaving the State Department, but Wednesday's address was her first on-the-record event in recent months focused solely on international relations.
'NOT THE SAME CANDIDATE'
"Secretary Clinton is distancing herself a bit on foreign policy matters from the administration recently," said John Hudak, a Brookings Institution fellow and expert on presidential campaigns. "This is a pretty standard practice for anyone looking to succeed the sitting president, even within the same party."
"It's one of the first steps for her to say, 'We're not the same candidate,'" he said.
Clinton's office did not respond to questions about the issue.
Creating space between her position and Obama's is a "smart move," said Hank Sheinkopf, a New York-based Democratic strategist who worked for the 1996 presidential re-election campaign of Hillary Clinton's husband, Bill Clinton.
"The present administration is in a no-win situation with Russia, with Syria and in the Middle East," Sheinkopf said before Clinton's New York speech. "Making a distance from them can only help."
During her four-year tenure in the State Department, Clinton helped lead the charge on imposing strong sanctions on Iran, which she mentioned in her New York speech to a pro-Israel audience - including several Democratic lawmakers - at an American Jewish Congress dinner honoring her.
In late January, Clinton sent a letter to Carl Levin, Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, calling herself a "longtime advocate for crippling sanctions against Iran," but urging that Congress not impose new sanctions during negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program.
She said that like Obama, she had no illusions about the ease or likelihood of reaching a permanent deal with Iran following an interim agreement reached under Kerry.
"Yet I have no doubt that this is the time to give our diplomacy the space to work," a stance she reaffirmed on Wednesday.
Republicans have promised to make Clinton's State Department record an issue if she runs for the White House, focusing on the 2012 attacks on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed.
The Republican National Committee has condemned Clinton's handling of the Benghazi assault, suggesting in a recent research note that "Benghazi is still the defining moment of Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State."
Some political analysts see her toughening rhetoric as more than a campaign tactic, and fitting with her foreign policy statements before joining the Obama administration. They said that could broaden her appeal to voters if she chooses to run, a decision she has said will not come until the end of this year.
Clinton, while a senator, voted in 2002 for a resolution authorizing U.S. military action against Iraq, a position that hurt her with liberal primary voters in her losing battle with Obama for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
"Making a credible and forceful case for America's place in the world - that's the kind of thing she's likely to say and continue to say," said Josh Block, a former Clinton administration official and now an executive at the Israel Project in Washington. "Those are messages that will resonate with Democrats and independents, as well as some Republicans."
SOURCE: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/20/us-usa-politics-clinton-idUSBREA2J2BL20140320
I apologize for being rude to you Vance.
You deserve better treatment.
Sincerely,
Mike
You deserve better treatment.
Sincerely,
Mike
OH please call Mike out for his writings to me on this thread.
There you go climbing back up on the high horse, well done chap.
OH are you going to call Mike out for his rude behavior? Come on lets be fair, call him out on it.
OH are you going to call Mike out for his rude behavior? Come on lets be fair, call him out on it.
I don't fault you for having an opinion or making a prediction. But, the way reasonable people express their opinions is by prefacing what they are about to say with something along the lines of - "I think..." or "In my opinion..." etc. Smart people know better than to be so arrogant as to state an opinion as a fact and for that I fault you. But, I shouldn't be surprised because people like you do that sort of thing - express their opinions as facts.....and the majority of the time they're wrong. Like I said - you do have a sub-par track record.
Yes and if she does win you have all the right to come back against me and call me out for being wrong on my personal prediction.
Yes, accountability can be pathetic and sad.
When you make outright predictions - "When she runs (she will not win)" your track record puts it in a clearer context.
And it doesn't take me but a minute or 2 to locate past posts.
We all move a our own pace and clearly mine is a good deal faster than yours.
When you make outright predictions - "When she runs (she will not win)" your track record puts it in a clearer context.
And it doesn't take me but a minute or 2 to locate past posts.
We all move a our own pace and clearly mine is a good deal faster than yours.
Better watch out Vance...
Mr. I-Have-No-Life-So-I-Troll-MH-And-Keep-Track-Of-Everything-People-Say-To-Use-It-Against-Them-At-A-Later-Date is on the prowl and recording everything we do, say & think.
I'm not sure about you, but do YOU remember articles/polls that you posted, taken directly out of the newspaper, from back in October of 2012?!?
Pretty pathetic, sad & troll'like if you do.
Mr. I-Have-No-Life-So-I-Troll-MH-And-Keep-Track-Of-Everything-People-Say-To-Use-It-Against-Them-At-A-Later-Date is on the prowl and recording everything we do, say & think.
I'm not sure about you, but do YOU remember articles/polls that you posted, taken directly out of the newspaper, from back in October of 2012?!?
Pretty pathetic, sad & troll'like if you do.
Wow, glad you had time to look back at polls I posted and pointed out they were wrong.
I think because it was so tragic is why it will be brought up. Not to be used as something to just throw at her but because many still have questions about it or concerns. She did do many things right for sure as Secretary of State but it just takes one situation to cast someone in a bad light. Sometimes it is fair when that happens and sometimes it isn't. I don't know if it is fair or not in the case of Benghazi but I'm sure it will come up and with the bad feelings about it, it could be a thorn in her side.
We'll see what happens but her age and health will be challenging for her most likely.
We'll see what happens but her age and health will be challenging for her most likely.
Agree her health issue(s) would be a problem. As far as Benghazi, hate to consider anything so tragic as part of a 'batting average', but she got a lot more right than she did wrong during her tenure, especially compared to some other recent Secretaries of State.
frown
Hilary has some barriers to a successful run for presidency. Her age is a real barrier. She'll be 69. That is the same age as Ronald Reagan when he was elected (good news for her) but he was the oldest person ever elected to office. There will be many questions about her health. With her recent health issues, this topic is sure to come up.
Here's an article to read if you have the time:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/01/02/the-political-reality-of-hillary-clintons-health/
Not to mention the little incident that tainted her tenure as secretary of state . . . has anyone forgotten Benghazi?
Wasn't there some information released as well that was a little contradictory to the charming side she shows the public?
But EVERYONE has there issues to overcome when running, that is for sure! And she's always had that same eerie loyalty that Obama has had no matter what is really going on. So, who knows. And no one from the Republican party is taking off so 'they' make it a little easy, unfortunately.
But I think her time has passed in terms of being the ideal candidate. And I don't blame anyone for distancing themselves from Obama. Seems like a smart move.
Hilary has some barriers to a successful run for presidency. Her age is a real barrier. She'll be 69. That is the same age as Ronald Reagan when he was elected (good news for her) but he was the oldest person ever elected to office. There will be many questions about her health. With her recent health issues, this topic is sure to come up.
Here's an article to read if you have the time:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/01/02/the-political-reality-of-hillary-clintons-health/
Not to mention the little incident that tainted her tenure as secretary of state . . . has anyone forgotten Benghazi?
Wasn't there some information released as well that was a little contradictory to the charming side she shows the public?
But EVERYONE has there issues to overcome when running, that is for sure! And she's always had that same eerie loyalty that Obama has had no matter what is really going on. So, who knows. And no one from the Republican party is taking off so 'they' make it a little easy, unfortunately.
But I think her time has passed in terms of being the ideal candidate. And I don't blame anyone for distancing themselves from Obama. Seems like a smart move.
(smile)
I really dont think she is distancing herself because she says she is skeptical of Iran deal because Obama said he was skeptical as well but felt its a more practical course in case it works than getting militarily involved which he and we all know americans dont want.
But the media has termed it as distancing so okay, so what?
Hillary has enuff of a support base on her past accomplishments that if the election were held today, she would win.
That may change in the future but with whats thinking of running in opposition to her is lets say, less than impressive, and even if they had a great candidate, the majority of the people look at the republican party as being invaded by aliens and are skeptical at best.
And yes, I remember when even fox and everyone was saying obama would lose. Twice, and he didnt.
I really dont think she is distancing herself because she says she is skeptical of Iran deal because Obama said he was skeptical as well but felt its a more practical course in case it works than getting militarily involved which he and we all know americans dont want.
But the media has termed it as distancing so okay, so what?
Hillary has enuff of a support base on her past accomplishments that if the election were held today, she would win.
That may change in the future but with whats thinking of running in opposition to her is lets say, less than impressive, and even if they had a great candidate, the majority of the people look at the republican party as being invaded by aliens and are skeptical at best.
And yes, I remember when even fox and everyone was saying obama would lose. Twice, and he didnt.
Your track record on election forecasting isn't any good.
And neither is el's
580755_tn?1357673215
Vance2335
Oct 23, 2012
Swing State Tracking: Romney 49%, Obama 46%
Ohio: Obama 49%, Romney 48%
Wisconsin: Obama 50%, Romney 48%
Virginia: Romney 50%, Obama 47%
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
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580755_tn?1357673215
Vance2335
Oct 23, 2012
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows Mitt Romney attracting support from 50% of voters nationwide, while President Obama earns the vote from 46%. One percent (1%) prefers some other candidate, and two percent (2%) are undecided.
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1310633_tn?1289313024
el_em_en_oh
Oct 23, 2012
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╚╚╝╚╝╚╩═╩═╝╚═╩══╩══╩══╝… 2012
And neither is el's
580755_tn?1357673215
Vance2335
Oct 23, 2012
Swing State Tracking: Romney 49%, Obama 46%
Ohio: Obama 49%, Romney 48%
Wisconsin: Obama 50%, Romney 48%
Virginia: Romney 50%, Obama 47%
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
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580755_tn?1357673215
Vance2335
Oct 23, 2012
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows Mitt Romney attracting support from 50% of voters nationwide, while President Obama earns the vote from 46%. One percent (1%) prefers some other candidate, and two percent (2%) are undecided.
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1310633_tn?1289313024
el_em_en_oh
Oct 23, 2012
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╔╗╔╗╔╗╔╗╔╗─╔╗
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╚╚╝╚╝╚╩═╩═╝╚═╩══╩══╩══╝… 2012
When she runs (she will not win), but she is not going to run on anything Obama did because it is a losing proposition. She is going to get hammered on anything she takes from Obama.
Sorry... I meant THREE comments!
2 comments:
1) Why on earth would she backtrack (on what she said paralleling Putin/Hitler) when it's so obviously TRUE?!?
2) When Hilary is elected in 2016, do we call Bill the 1st-Gentleman, 1st-Husband, 1st-Man. Can't really call him the 1st-Lady, so what will he be referred to as???
3) Hilary distancing herself from President Obama? Disagreeing with an Obama stance is distancing? Last I heard, disagreeing with someone is simply that... not agreeing with a position they've taken. Just because she doesn't agree with something Obama has said, doesn't mean she's distancing herself. They are one in the same. President Obama and Clinton are cut from exactly the same cloth.
1) Why on earth would she backtrack (on what she said paralleling Putin/Hitler) when it's so obviously TRUE?!?
2) When Hilary is elected in 2016, do we call Bill the 1st-Gentleman, 1st-Husband, 1st-Man. Can't really call him the 1st-Lady, so what will he be referred to as???
3) Hilary distancing herself from President Obama? Disagreeing with an Obama stance is distancing? Last I heard, disagreeing with someone is simply that... not agreeing with a position they've taken. Just because she doesn't agree with something Obama has said, doesn't mean she's distancing herself. They are one in the same. President Obama and Clinton are cut from exactly the same cloth.
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