Hillary trying to distance herself from President Obama’s foreign policy
By Roger Caldwell
In many different interviews, Hilary Clinton has made it clear that she is more aggressive than President Obama on foreign policy. Her worldview is assertive, and she stands on the right where her position is very hawkish and extreme. Some experts argue that if elected as the first woman president, Clinton must exhibit strength, control, and toughness, but distancing her platform from President Obama’s foreign policy could be damaging to her campaign.
The Clintons have always appeared to have an adversarial relationship with President Obama, and it comes as no surprise in her campaign that she is running away from his foreign policy. In an interview last year with journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic, Clinton articulated a vision for a much more assertive American worldview.
Clinton believes that President Obama has been too cautious with his foreign policies, and shifted too far to the left. She is proposing a tougher policy because Jihadi groups are now controlling territory in Syria and Iraq. She believes that failing to arm Syrian moderates could have prevented Islamic extremists from taking back land in Syria and Iraq.
“We’ve learned the limits of America’s power to spread freedom and democracy, but we’ve also learned the importance of our power, our influence, and our values appropriated deployed and exhibited. Right now, we don’t tell our own story very well” says presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
As Clinton explains her position on foreign affairs, it appears that she is stuck in the Cold War mentality when our leaders talked about the size of their guns. This kind of thinking borders on an elitist paradigm when America was the international police, and we resolved problems because we thought we had the most guns.
But President Obama understood that it was insane to think that we could defeat our enemies by going to war. Our president felt that it is important to neutralize our enemies by freezing their assets and implementing global sanctions. The world has changed and leaders must use diplomacy to negotiate treaties when we talk to our enemies.
On the other hand, Clinton is still not comfortable talking to our enemies, and she is running away from President Obama’s foreign policies. Al Gore was the last Democratic presidential candidate to distance himself from the president he served, and he lost the election.
Clinton is a staunch supporter of Israel, and she claims that Hamas initiated the conflict and Israel is justified in defending itself. She has made it clear in her platform that as president she would not be able to work with Hamas because of their commitment to the destruction of Israel. As a result of this hard line, Clinton refuses to talk to our enemies, and the Palestinians are being abused and discriminated against by Israel. There is a humanitarian crisis in this part of the world, and America cannot just support only one country.
In the last months, Clinton’s poll numbers are plunging because of scandals surrounding her private email server and foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation. These scandals are hurting her image and many Democratic voters don’t view her as honest and trustworthy.
As Clinton is distancing herself from President Obama, more Blacks distance themselves from her campaign. The Democrats cannot win in 2016 without the Black vote. Clinton has very few major accomplishments as Secretary of State under President Obama, and many of her foreign policy positions are not in line with the President.
Attendance at her political events has not been impressive, and she is not presenting any visionary ideas that resonate with the Democratic base. Running away from the President’s infrastructure, grassroots organizations, and foreign policies could cause her to lose her party’s nomination for president.