Maybe Canada should have 12-month long election campaigns. One thing is sure, the more you see of any particular candidate, the less you're apt to like them.
Running for president in the United States is a terrible grind. Hillary Clinton shows the wear and tear more than the others. They'll all probably look a lot worse by the time the summer is over.
No candidate's fortunes have changed as much as Hillary Clinton's over the past year. Once considered a shoo-in, she's now pretty much washed up. Her problems, however, extend well beyond the Democratic primaries. A significant majority of the American people find her dishonest and untrustworthy. The Washington Post:
"Clinton is viewed as "honest and trustworthy" by just 39 percent of Americans, according to a new Washington Post - ABC News poll, compared with 52 percent in May 2006. Nearly six in 10 said in the new poll that she is not honest and trustworthy. And now, compared with Obama, Clinton has a deep trust deficit among Democrats, trailing him by 23 points as the more honest, an area on which she once led both Obama and John Edwards.
Among Democrats, 63 percent called her honest, down 18 points from 2006; among independents, her trust level has dropped 13 points, to 37 percent. Republicans held Clinton in low regard on this in the past (23 percent called her honest two years ago), but it is even lower now, at 16 percent. Majorities of men and women now say the phrase does not apply to Clinton; two years ago, narrow majorities of both did."
Like Obama, Clinton has enough hurdles facing her in this race to the White House. A loss of trust among the electorate may be one hurdle she has no hope of clearing.
This picture of Clintons reminds me of my college daze. Long hair like him but no beard and first girl friend looked like Hillary.
ReplyDeleteThey both have been through a lot, though. Rigours of primaries are indeed having an impact on them.
I don't know how they stand up to the ordeal of an American presidential campaign.
ReplyDeleteI had the dubious honour of covering the 1974 federal campaign. In six weeks we were all worn out. The blur of second-rate hotels, living out of a suitcase, eating bad food, listening to the same speech read again and again, always travelling to the next stop, far too many parties, far too much booze. Horrid.