The long way to the White House

• 22 September 2007 at 12:44
• Politik Pop, U.S. '08

Image credits: Unknown

The person that is, according to Newsweek, the safest money in the bid for the White House, is Hillary Clinton. This is surprising since Hillary was very impopular a few months ago in the U.S., however, so was George W. Bush before being elected.

The presidential election in the USA is very different from France. It's like 1000 times harder! First, the primaries start months before the supporters' vote. Some candidates announce they were running for president in december 2006 and they are going to have to be enduring because the general election will happen in november 2008.

The tone and the methods are very different as well. In France, candidates can't use televised advertisement but some short movies used at a very precise time chosen by the CSA (Superior Council of Audio-visual). In the United States, they can and it turns trash very quickly. And let's not talk about some television networks that are fully committed to republicans, such as FOX News, which broadcasts so much misinformation that I wonder how come people can still watch this channel. And now I start wondering whether the same is happening in France. Anyway, TV is one thing, Internet is another one. La Clinton is totally under fire on the Web! Conservatives accuse her of eating babies and even worse, promoting communism, whereas some left-wing people reproach her of being too moderate, or not being able to represent the change Americans are waiting for, since she's the husband of a former president. About this issue, Mrs Clinton's answer was shingling:

I think that, with all these people against her and very harsh on her, especially after the Lewinski scandal that showed the entire world that she was cheated on by her husband, she is a very courageous woman.

The similarities between the French and the American election exist. Sarko was impopular, considered as a polarizing character but managed to become the leader of the right. Hillary Clinton was already an impopular public figure, considered as a polarizing character too but could legitimately become the leader of the Democrats as an experienced woman, even maybe the heiress of the previous Democrat president.

It's also going to depend on her competitor. Republicans are a mess right now, no candidate really outshines the others, and this could be a serious problem for the Party during election. Giuliani, the former New York City Mayor during 9/11, is an interesting adversary, especially since he's got, just like Sarkozy, foreign roots but at this grandparents' level. However, he's very different from him since, to outshine others, he keeps on attacking Hillary Clinton.

But the former jippy is solid and seems capable of enduring this. She will have to prove it to the American people anyway to become the leader of her country.

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