National Affairs by Claire Hoy — Anyone’s guess who will win it

August 3, 2016 · 0 Comments

Barely a day passes, alas, without news of yet another horrific murderous rampage by either ISIS or some other look-alike radical Islamic terrorist organization.
You would think that as the death toll continues to mount around the world, the subject of what to do about the terrorists would be the top-of-mind topic for any politician running for the top office in the land.
Well, think again. At least when it comes to Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party.
Since neither Clinton nor current President Barack Obama refuse to even use the term “radical Islamists,” it should not be the greatest surprise that, as syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer pointed out recently, during the first night of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, “there were 61 speeches. Not one mentioned the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or even terrorism.”
Not one. Think of that.
We are told that, as a former secretary of state, Clinton’s strong suit over Republican Donald Trump is precisely her experience — and his complete lack of it — in foreign policy. But, adds Krauthammer, the fact is that Clinton “left a trail of policy failures from Libya to Syria, from the Russian reset to the Iraqi withdrawal to the rise of ISIL.”
No wonder they don’t want to talk about it.
Instead, Clinton and her fellow Democrats — along with most of the mainstream media — chose to spend their time attacking Trump’s demonstrable lack of truthfulness and outrageous ego.
Fair enough. But the only problem with that is that as much as people perceive Trump to be given to tall tales, more think that Clinton has an even more distant relationship with truth.
According to two major public opinion polls released on the eve of the Democratic convention — which showed Trump got a popularity bump after the Republican shingdig in Cleveland — Clinton’s public image continues the downward slide it has been in for several months.
A major CNN poll — from a network decidedly unfriendly toward Republicans — 68 per cent of people asked said Clinton is not honest and trustworthy. That is her worst number on record, up from 59 per cent early in May — and far beyond the 43 per cent who say Trump is dishonest.
A CBS poll found that 67 per cent of the respondents say Clinton is dishonest. It also found that 56 per cent have an “unfavorable” view of her, compared to 31 per cent “favorable,” while Gallup showed just 38 per cent “favorable” compared to 57 per cent “unfavorable,” giving her — for the first time — a public image worse than Trump.
And all this, despite the best efforts of most of the mainstream media to gloss over Clinton’s serial failings and highlight every stupid thing Trump does or says — of which there is, as in Clinton’s case, no shortage.
The best the Democrats could devise to attempt to rehabilitate Clinton’s horrible public image was to tout the fact that some 100 Hollywood celebrities have decided they are going full Monty to support her bid for the presidency and attack Trump at every possible opportunity.
It apparently has not occurred to the pointy heads who are running the Democratic campaign that that’s exactly the sort of tactic they should NOT be encouraging. Trump’s strength — and it’s still hard to believe what has happened — is his appeal, not to the elite, but to the millions of Americans who believe they have been ignored and left behind by the current political elite on both sides of the aisle, as well as those in the media, academia and elsewhere.
The more often a spoiled Hollywood star or starlet pumps up their candidate, the more average Americans can be assured that their basic, every day concerns – which surely includes a genuine fear of radical Islamists – are not likely to be met by Clinton and her elitist supporters.
As your humble correspondent has written many times, I would be sorely conflicted if I had to chose between Clinton and Trump, since neither is really the type of person who gives one confidence for the future.
While much is made about the number of Republican leaders who are unhappy that Trump is now their man, it is often conveniently overlooked that millions of registered Democrats were so unhappy with Clinton as their flag waver that they continue to yearn, for an aging socialist who, until the latest round of electioneering, wasn’t even a registered Democrat.
Clearly, nobody can say with precision who will win this remarkable showdown.
But in normal times, that is if the Democrats had anybody but Clinton, Trump surely wouldn’t stand a chance. Then again, if the Republicans had somebody other than Trump, the Democrats wouldn’t stand a chance.
We really do live, as the old proverb goes, in interesting times. hoy