Hillary clinton a political profile

Hillary Clinton - A Political Profile

When we turn our eyes to Hillary Clinton, we see the exciting prospect of our first woman President. We see someone who has the upper hand, with a husband who served two terms in that office and knows how to win it. We see an established states-person, who has already been an activist for various causes, and is even known world-wide. But now we must ask ourselves, what kind of President is she going to make?

In her first term as Senator, she has taken on a wise choice in committees, because they played to establishing a well-rounded portfolio of work, beefing up her weaknesses and keeping up her strengths. We already know that she's a dervish for the home-front domestic agenda, so the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, with subcommittees on Aging and Children & Families, and the Committee on Environment and Public Works, with subcommittees on Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property, Nuclear Safety, Fisheries, Wildlife, Water, Superfund, Waste Control, and Risk Assessment, should come as no surprise.

But the Committee on Armed Services, with subcommittees on Airland, Emerging Threats and Capabilities, and Readiness and Management Support, is a refreshing change in her focus. This is the concern that many voters will have about her qualifications: dealing with other countries, some of whom don't like you. She was also briefly on the Committee on Budget, so she boned up on fiscal matters, and she joined the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, so she will have at least a clue to what the names of European countries are, unlike some Presidents we could name.

Now, can she get things done? Well, she was quick to secure $21.4 billion in funding for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. On the other hand, she was booed at a New York audience at the 2001 Concert for New York City shortly after, even though her husband was applauded. This tells us that she can take action, but still has a struggle with her public image. After she fired off an investigation into the health issues faced by 9/11 first responders, she earned new respect from the Uniformed Fire Officers Association and the Uniformed Firefighters Association, which shows she knew how to fix that, or else shows that everybody loves a fighter for public health. She also sought to form a panel to investigate the response to Hurricane Katrina.

She supported and voted for the PATRIOT act, but then the only Senator to draw a Nay there was Russ Feingold. She is one of the "Iraq war wafflers", who first supported it but later reversed her position and now favors a phased withdrawal from Iraq. Strange for a Liberal Democrat with a focus on civil liberties, she is against gay marriage, but she is in favor of same-sex civil unions. She did vote against the Federal Marriage Amendment that would have made gay marriage prohibition a matter of Federal control, however. She was one of the Senators calling on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign.

She has opposed irresponsible tax cut bills when they've come along, citing that it was fiscally irresponsible to reopen the budget deficit, and has voted with an eye towards keeping the budget surplus from Bill Clinton's administration; however, we've managed to plunge back into debt anyway. She has also lobbied to bring more jobs to her state of New York, and has worked to bring broadband Internet access to rural communities and cosponsored the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act. So she's aware that the U. S. needs jobs and to beef up its scientific development.
Hillary Clinton has demonstrated active awareness of matters beyond her usual domestic home front agenda. Partisan critics may feel that her solutions are more "old-school liberal" than what today's political landscape calls for, while hard-line Democrats may say that she is not nearly Liberal enough. However, between her experience as one of the most politically engaged First Ladies this country as ever seen, combined with a highly conscientious Senate career, she has more than proven herself to the voting public as a viable, even preferred, candidate for the Presidency.

word count 696

 

Recommended For You

Hillary clinton democrat

Hillary Clinton - Democrat

Hillary Clinton was born as Hillary Rodham in October 26, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois. She graduated Maine South High School in 1965 and went on to attend Wellesley College, where she majored in Political Science, and graduated in 1969. Her next educational step was to attend Yale Law School, where she received a Juris Doctor of law degree in 1973.

During the time of her early life and education, it cannot be ignored that she was an activist and had political ambitions from the earliest age. She was a Brownie and Girl Scout, was on the student council at Maine East High School and was honored by the National Honor Society. She spent her teen years both helping to expose voter fraud in the election of President Richard Nixon and volunteered for the campaign effort of Barry Goldwater in the 1964 Presidential election.

At Wellesley College she served as president of the Wellesley Young Republicans organization and then in her first bout of changing from Republican to Democrat, subsequently volunteering in the campaign of Democrat Eugene McCarthy for Presidential nomination. Along with her leadership in many protests and canvasing efforts, she was elected President of the Wellesley College Government Association. She interned at the House Republican Conference, and wound up her college years by deliver the commencement address for Wellesley College.

At Yale Law School she served on the Board of Editors for the Yale Review of Law and Social Action, and later worked at the Yale Child Study Center. She also worked as a research assistant, performed legal duties in cases of child abuse at Yale-New Haven Hospital, volunteered at New Haven Legal Services, and worked at Marian Wright Edelman's Washington Research Project. Her work in the field of children's health during this time earned her publication in the 1973 edition of the Harvard Educational Review.

Her post-grad work continued her record of activism for political and social causes, first as staff attorney for the Children's Defense Fund in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and then as a consultant to the Carnegie Council on Children. She then served as a member of the impeachment inquiry staff which advised the House Committee on the Judiciary during the scandal at the end of Richard Nixon's Presidency.

Shortly afterwards, she made the fateful decision to suppress her own ambitions in favor of getting married to another person with an active career in law and politics, in the process taking on the last name of Clinton and moving to Arkansas in 1974. However, she still remained active in society and politics, and maintained a law career. She co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, was appointed to the board of directors of the Legal Services Corporation and served in that capacity for four years, and through her husband's election became First Lady of Arkansas in 1979. She was to continue in this capacity for 12 years, with a brief 2-year hiatus.

Despite her decision to become a mother, she continued to pursue an active career of political, social, legal, and even corporate work. During both her position of First Lady of Arkansas and later as First Lady of the United States during her husband's eight years as President, her numerous achievements included chairing the American Bar Association's Commission on Professional Women, serving on the boards of the Arkansas Children's Hospital Legal Services, chairing the Children's Defense Fund, holding positions on the corporate board of directors for the corporations TCBY, Wal-Mart, and Lafarge.

Her career at times has been said to overshadow that of her husband. While her husband endured storms of controversy but overall persevered in his eight years as President with some substantial accomplishments of his own, Hillary Clinton chaired the Task Force on National Health Care Reform, was instrumental in the formation of the State Children's Health Insurance Program of 1997, helped create the Office on Violence Against Women, created the Adoption and Safe Families Act, and did a staggering amount of lobbying for health care, childhood, and family issues.

Hillary Clinton's name has become synonymous with hard-left social activism, as well as being a firebrand advocate for families and children. Not the least of reasons for this is her New York Times bestseller, "It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us", published in 1996. She currently serves as the Senator for New York since 2000, a career which so far has been too brief to distinguish. Her activities as First Lady have earned her a place of respect next to Eleanor Roosevelt in history.

For her Presidential campaign, which she announced in January of 2007, she is looking forward to a tough bout in breaking the "glass ceiling" typically symptomatic of female professionals. However, she can count on a strong support base of women, minorities, and Democrats. Amongst the more liberal Democrats, she is sometimes even referred to as "the Clinton we should have had".

word count 805

 

Recommended For You