November 2016 brings the date that citizens will cast their votes for the inauguration of the position that is often considered the most important in the world; President of the United States of America. Candidate resumés include extensive elective public service as well as appointments of great responsibility. The professions of law and medicine are noted on the occupation histories of several candidates. One of the leading qualifications that Hillary Clinton brings to the campaign for voters to consider is her eight years in the White House. If living in the People’s House is an apprenticeship for the presidency, let’s sift through the resumes of secret service agents, cooks and household personnel that might have spent even more than eight years there.
Another qualification is that Hillary has slept, eaten and travelled with husband former President Bill. It is highly probable that some of Bill’s fund-raising and campaign prowess has rubbed off on this esteemed candidate. Picking up from where the present President severs his ‘hope and change’ mantra, she may be able to patch up all domestic and international problems by speaking softly and carrying a big ego. (Didn’t President Teddy Roosevelt say something like that?)
While President Obama is searching for a legacy for his terms in office, Mrs. Clinton’s legacy is already built-in prior to coronation; she would be the first woman and the first first lady to be elected to the Presidency. She was elected senator from New York and was appointed Secretary of State following her loss to the Obama machine. Her greatest achievement during her four-year tenure as Secretary of State is probably that she presented a box with a ‘reset’ button on it to her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov symbolizing improved relations between the two countries. Reflecting the value of this gift, Russian daily newspaper Kommersant announced on its front page, “Sergei Lavrov and Hillary Clinton push the wrong button.”
Other achievements include Mrs. Clinton’s statement in January 2013 before the Senate Committee investigating why four US citizens were killed in the Benghazi attack of September 11, 2012. The then Secretary of State indignantly responded to a question by Representative Ron Johnson (R-WI) as follows: “With all due respect, we had four dead Americans, whether it was because of a protest, or whether a guy out for a walk decided to go kill some Americans, what difference at this point does it make?” We now know that thousands of E-mails were deleted from her personal server deterring culpability.
Other accomplishments during her indenture as Secretary of State include the disbursement of several billion dollars for reconstruction in Haiti following the 7.0 earthquake in 2010. It would be interesting to find out where the $10.4 billion ($3.6 billion provided by USA) worldwide pledges has gone. About 80,000 displaced Haitians continue to live in tents, the Presidential Palace has been operational under a canvas tent and a model new residential village with planned 3,000- unit housing called Lumane Casimir is less than half complete after five years.
Months after Hillary’s ascension to Secretary of State in 2009, Bill Clinton was coincidentally appointed special U.N. envoy to Haiti. Following the tragic earthquake, Bill assumed the added role of co-chair of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC). Now, let’s follow the money trail. An excessive cost contract for a Haitian road that no one needed was to be built by OAS, a Brazilian contractor. The contract was announced two months prior to approval. The Brazilian contractor is under indictment for corruption (bribery) in its home country. On a list of donors to The Clinton Foundation, OAS is listed as the source of between $1 and $5 million in charitable gifts. It may not be just the Haitian government that is guilty of the immorality of looting.
The Obama horde adopted and practiced the theme of ‘hope and change.’ That has been effective for those who have progressed to full government dependency. Others who pay their taxes, get no healthcare subsidy and pick up the tab on government waste are paying more and receiving less exponentially. Hillary, instead of using ‘hope and change,’ as a campaign theme might engage the slogan, ‘hapless and capricious.’ Do we really want another counterfeit Commander-in-Chief?
– Dick Baynton
