Subject: Roll Call opinion: Burns Strider: “7 Themes Emerge for Hillary Rodham Clinton and 2016”
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2014 12:37:04 -0400
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

*Roll Call opinion: Burns Strider: “7 Themes Emerge for Hillary Rodham
Clinton and 2016”
<http://www.rollcall.com/news/7_themes_emerge_for_hillary_rodham_clinton_and_2016-235582-1.html?pos=lopilr>*

By Burns Strider

August 7, 2014, 12:00 p.m. EDT

Republican operatives are as lost as last year’s Easter egg when it comes
to stopping Hillary Rodham Clinton. It’s two years from the presidential
election, important 2014 elections are in front of us, and Clinton hasn’t
even decided whether she will run. But the well-oiled Republican attack
industry has thrown everything at her but the kitchen sink.

Last week, the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee confirmed what
we’ve known all along: its most tried and most misleading attack, Benghazi,
is baseless.

The committee’s two-year investigation-turned-political-shenanigan has
further discredited right-wing conspiracy theorists. No deliberate
wrongdoing occurred, there was no intelligence failure before the attack
and no stand-down order was issued. Furthermore, Clinton took
responsibility, took action and was fully transparent.

Now, the right is left with nothing. And yet they continue to try to
mislead the American people.

Why would right-wing extremists devote their time, energy and money so far
away from an election attempting to discredit someone who hasn’t even
decided to be a candidate? It’s as simple as apple pie: If Clinton runs,
their agenda is in trouble.

They have to stop her in order to secure a shot at the presidency for
themselves.

But their baseless and politically-motivated attacks on the tragedy in
Benghazi haven’t worked. They have been proved false time and time again.
Truth rises; lies sink. In the course of our work, I’ve seen seven key
themes emerge. I wanted to share them with you all.

1. Public opinion is much better for Clinton now than it was in 2008. The
strength of Clinton’s poll numbers now, compared to this time in the 2008
cycle, is astonishing. This widespread favorability extends outside the
Beltway to Iowa and New Hampshire, where her favorability ratings with
Democrats are 89 percent and 94 percent respectively.

2. Americans across the ideological spectrum are looking positively to a
potential Clinton run. Republicans are trying every tactic in the book,
even trying to convince Democrats that Clinton is not liberal enough. But
only 6 percent of liberal Democrats don’t think she should run for
president.

3. Voters, specifically Democrats, are eager for her experience. If Clinton
chooses to run, she will be the most qualified candidate in the modern
history of the United States.

4. Clinton is in step with her party on core issues, particularly income
inequality. While Republicans try to convince people that she doesn’t
connect with the liberal base on income inequality, her lifelong record and
her own words tell us differently.

5. No credible challenger can amass the kind of broad party support Clinton
has. The energy and excitement for Clinton is unprecedented. In all my
years in politics, I have never seen such unified excitement for a single
potential candidate, while the Republican field is anemic at best.

6. Voters are behind her, not just politicos. What’s special about
Clinton’s broad support is that it’s not just people inside the Beltway.
Americans across the country have attended rallies, hosted house parties
and donated small dollar amounts to Ready for Hillary. On her book tour,
people have waited for hours, sometimes even overnight, just to see her,
just to get a book signed.

7. Lastly, but most importantly, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s work ethic has
been on full display for months. Clinton and her supporters, if she chooses
to run, do not want a coronation. America is a democracy, not a monarchy;
and we do not crown our presidents. Instead, our candidates work for it.
Clinton has demonstrated that she’s ready and willing to put in the hours.
Competition makes you work hard, and she will; she does. And we, her
supporters, will work hard, too. These seven themes showcase the
excitement, anticipation, and dedicated support for a Clinton candidacy. We
must stay focused on the future, because I believe that Hillary is the best
person to lead us there. We want someone focused on the hard choices that
loom.

In the meantime, I’m waiting to see how House Republicans explain to their
constituents back home this August that they’re continuing to waste
millions of taxpayer dollars funding a wild-goose chase on Benghazi, when
their own, Republican-led committee has already determined this attack to
be baseless. While they’re stuck in the past, Democrats are looking forward.