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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 February 2000 Issue No. 469 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 February 2000 Issue No. 469
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Hillary steps into the play
By Thomas Gorguissian
And now it's her turn. She wants to be a senator. America's First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton finally and formally announced her campaign for the United States Senate. Hillary the candidate -- her last name, incidentally, is conspicuously absent from campaign banners -- is the first president's wife in American history to seek a public office after leaving the White House. And who knows? Hillary's wish may become a reality with next November's elections.
Hillary Clinton
The 52-year-old Hillary kicked off her New York Senate campaign before a gathering of more than 2,000 supporters, democratic party officials, political staff and journalists on Sunday, at the State University of New York-Purchase. After a nearly six-month-long "listening tour", Hillary moved to the state last month. "I may be new to the neighborhood," she remarked in her speech, "but I'm not new to your concerns."
The president, Bill Clinton, attended the launching of Mrs Clinton's candidacy, but did not speak. In her speech, Hillary called for better public schools and universal health care, promising to bring new jobs to New York. The senator wannabe did not miss her chance to emphasise past experience working on children's and women's issues. Hillary has sought to overcome New York voters' perceptions of the Clinton presidency, often distancing herself from her husband. Describing herself as a "new democrat", Hillary told the crowd, "I don't believe government is the source of all our problems -- or the solution to them."
Her race against New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani will not be an easy one and Hillary knows this all too well. Guiliani has a strong success record and has dominated the polls for months. "I know it's not always going to be an easy campaign -- but ayyy! This is New York." Recent polls, however, show that the gap between Giuliani and Hillary is narrowing.
Hillary is targeting the votes of women, minorities, gays, and Jews, but most of these voters -- mainly liberals -- are skeptical about Hillary's political choices. One significant example is the sensitive issue of courting the Jewish vote. Hillary has showed various faces, on one occasion the expressing her support for the "Palestinians' right" to have their state; but more recently saying that she considers Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Last year, she disclosed the Jewish blood in her family; but she remained silent when Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's wife Soha mentioned in Hillary's presence how Israelis poisoned Palestinians. The coming months will show whether the Jewish vote will forgive and forget -- or what they will remember of Hillary's words and deeds.
The race in New York is already showing an ugly face. Not surprisingly, each candidate is using all means, the mean ones in particular, to tarnish the opponent. "Everyone has to get down and get dirty at some point -- it's part of the tradition," Democrat loyalist, and President Bill Clinton's former chief electoral strategist, James Carville, said. Last week witnessed a confrontation of this type. Giuliani distributed a fund-raising letter in which he criticised Hillary for "hostility towards America's religious traditions". Meanwhile, Giuliani has been accused of being a supporter of, or at least once sympathetic to, Austria's Freedom Party leader Jörg Haider -- nowadays a "pariah" in American and European politics and press.
Guiliani is generally considered a "moderate Republican", and because both he and Hillary agree on social issues like abortion and gun control, trying to show the differences between the two candidates is likely to get "too personal". An anti-Hillary campaign and website (HillaryNo.com) sneers: "Born in Illinois and carried to power in Arkansas, with no connection of any kind to New York, Hillary has set her sights on the New York Senate seat and maybe ... probably ... set her sights even higher. That's what HillaryNo.com is all about. It is a website dedicated to the notion that we should expect more from someone who aspires to the US Senate. That the US Senate is a place for proven leaders, not a proving ground."
Because she is the first lady, Hillary Clinton travels with White House security -- a contentious issue due to the heavy cost. Guiliani supporters say that Hillary has made almost thirty trips to New York in the last six months on government owned jets. Recently, a group of Republican officials held news conferences in five cities, accusing Hillary of spending $900,000 in federal funds on campaign trips. Mrs Clinton has reported reimbursing $34,000.
And although Mayor Giuliani had five TV appearances the same day Hillary made her run official, Guiliani's campaigners insisted the appearances were "real and not scripted by Hollywood" -- implying this to be the case with Hillary now and Bill Clinton before.
Most observers agree that this is going to be a tough race -- and an expensive one. Hillary had raised about $8 million by the end of 1999, while Giuliani, who started fund-raising three months earlier, had raised almost $12 million. As is frequently noted in the American political life, elections are expensive -- and they are getting more expensive at all levels. The race to get more money will intensify in the coming weeks and months. According to some estimates, a candidate for a seat in the House of Representatives needs at least $6-10 million, while one for the Senate needs at least $15-20 million.
Hillary knows that the press and the public have been harsh and critical of her. She is a real politician, once described as a "congenital liar" by William Safire, the political columnist. Criticism is likely to mount higher, as many observers maintain that Hillary is continuously transforming and changing her positions. Some critics argue that Hillary's chief problem is her assumption that voters don't know or remember what she said and did in the past. "Or maybe she thinks the public is always ready to forgive," remarked one observer. Political commentators have noted that in many cases, Hillary's problem, and her first enemy, is Hillary.
Hillary has always been known and described as a strong woman. Senator Pat Moynihan, the key Democratic figure in New York, introduced the woman who may succeed him in the Senate seat with these words: "Hillary, Eleanor Roosevelt would love you." But the main challenge for Hillary remains the same: At the end of the day, will New Yorkers love her?
