Former United States Secretary of State, US Senator, and First Lady of the United States, Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential election with a produced announcement which aired on her website. This is her second time running for party nomination; Clinton narrowly lost to eventual President, Barack Obama in 2008.
Clinton announced her candidacy in this unique way—rather than holding a news conference, as is the typical method. Southern Oregon University political science professor, Dr. William Hughes, speculates as to why Clinton may have chosen the method she did, “She needs to be insulated from excessive unmediated exposure – where she’s just out there. Some people can deal with that very well, but she – not unlike Barack Obama – seems essentially to be an internal, kind of introverted person.”
Dr. Hughes continued on the subject, saying, “Clinton is better with the one-on-one or small group dynamics … Notice she never once explained why she’s running for President and no one has yet really asked her. That’s insulation, the idea is she doesn’t want to have to deal with that yet.” She is expected to have a formal kick off next month where she will no doubt have to deal with the press.
An obvious, yet unavoidable additional point to make about Clinton is her gender. She was already the first female senator of New York, and could very well be the first female President of the United States. Hughes says this may work to her advantage, “More women than men will vote in the next election – and women could have extraordinary influence over the outcome of the Presidential election. She’s well aware of that.”
Another reason she may have wanted to launch her campaign through her supporters on line, Hillary Clinton has been involved in multiple controversies dating back to when her husband, Bill was President. Recent events aren’t any different. Clinton allegedly had a private non-government issued e-mail address when she was Secretary of State, but some e-mails were deleted before an investigation. If she announced at a news conference no doubt the questions would emerge around that issue and the Benghazi incident on September 11, 2012, when Clinton was still Secretary of State. The US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya was attacked, which resulted in the deaths of the U.S. Ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans. Clinton took responsibility for the security lapses, but a new report will be released just prior to the 2016 Elections. The investigation was done by “The House Select Committee on Benghazi.”
As of now, Hillary Clinton is the only one openly running for the Democratic nomination, but there are a handful of Republicans with their name in the hat including Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Jeb Bush.
Dr. Hughes concluded by saying, “It’s one thing to say there’s no other Democrat that will step up and challenge her; there are a lot of Republicans who will. And she is, or should be concerned about that.”
